MTS Q2 Profit Declines, Reaffirms 2015 Revenue Outlook

(RTTNews) - Russian telecom services provider Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MBT) or MTS reported that second-quarter net profit attributable to the Group declined 21.7 percent to 17.07 billion Russian rubles from 21.81 billion rubles in the prior-year quarter.

Earnings per share decreased to 8.59 rubles from 19.51 rubles in the same quarter last year.

However, net operating revenue for the quarter grew 3.9 percent to 102.69 billion rubles from 98.88 billion rubles last year.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2015, MTS reaffirmed its guidance for group revenue growth of more than 2 percent.

The company said that its board recommended a semi-annual dividend of 5.61 rubles per ordinary MTS share (11.22 rubles per ADR) amounting to the total of 11.59 billion rubles on the basis of the first-half of 2015 results.