VimpelCom Q2 Profit Rises, But Revenue Down On Currency Impact; Backs Outlook

(RTTNews) - VimpelCom Ltd. (VIP), a provider of telecommunications services, reported Thursday that its second-quarter net income attributable to shareholders increased 8 percent to $108 million from $100 million last year. Earnings per share were $0.06, same as last year.

Total revenue, meanwhile, declined 26 percent to $3.76 billion from $5.07 billion a year ago, impacted by currency headwinds. Organically, revenues declined 2 percent.

Service revenue fell 26 percent to $3.61 billion, and mobile data revenue dropped 8 percent.

EBITDA, a key earnings metric, fell 27 percent to $1.51 billion and EBITDA margin dropped 0.8 percentage points to 40.2 percent.

Looking ahead, the company said it is on track to deliver on 2015 annual targets. For 2015, the company continues to expect service revenue of flat to low single digit organic decline year on year and earnings per share to be between $0.35 and $0.40. EBITDA margin is expected to be flat to minus one percentage point organically.

Further, the company shared the conclusions of its Strategy update and the six priorities that VimpelCom will operate on going forward. The company expects a sustainable increase in cash flow of $750 million per annum by year three.