OREANDA-NEWS. On December 18, 2008 Sistema (the “Group”) (LSE: SSA), the largest diversified public corporation in Russia and the CIS, which manages fast growing companies operating in the telecommunications, consumer services and technology sectors, announced its unaudited consolidated US GAAP financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2008, reported the press-centre of Sistema.

Third quarter highlights
Consolidated revenues up 31.5% year on year to US 4,592.6 million

OIBDA up 25.6% year on year to US 1,678.6 million with an OIBDA margin of 36.5%

Operating income up 17.6% year on year to US 1,065.5 million with an operating margin of 23.2%

Cash flow from operations of US 1,010.4 million

Net income of US 99.9 million, including US 396.0 million of foreign exchange and derivative contract losses

Total assets up 32.0% year on year to US 32.0 billion

Leonid Melamed, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “The third quarter saw a continued healthy operating performance across the group and further delivery on our strategic objectives. In addition, the group wide initiatives to increase efficiency levels have resulted in higher operating margins.  These positive underlying developments have however been impacted by foreign exchange effects due to our dollar denominated reporting and borrowings. In the challenging environment that we are now operating in, we are more focused than ever on our core businesses, and those market segments where we have an established presence and customer relationships and the ability to build market share.
 
Our businesses are relatively more defensively positioned across key industry segments, and we are working even more closely with the public sector. We have also adjusted our investment programmes, both to reflect the market conditions, but also to enable us to continue to deliver growth in the medium and longer term.  In addition, we have worked to strengthen our financial position by successfully refinancing and paying down short term borrowings, and we continue to generate substantial operating cash flows.”