OREANDA-NEWS. May 10, 2012. Mobile communications operator life:) announces its financial and operational results for Q1 2012. life:) continues to demonstrate growth of its key financial and operational indicators, mostly due to increase of subscriber base, increased usage of data services and popularity of international calls.

REVENUE: In Q1 2012 life:) demonstrated revenue growth by 17.4% YoY and reached UAH 729.9 million against UAH 621.5 million in Q1 2011. The main drivers of the revenue growth include subscriber base increase as well as increase of revenues from data services and international calls.

EBITDA & EBITDA MARGIN: In Q1 2012 life:) recorded the highest quarterly EBITDA margin reaching 27.2% which was up by 3.2 pp YoY. This is for the fourth consecutive quarter the company records the EBITDA margin exceeding 25% which is a result of company’s focus on business efficiency and operational profitability. In Q1 2012 EBITDA reached UAH 198.5 million which is 33.1% growth YoY (UAH 149.1 million). The main drivers include: cost-efficiency approach to expenses and increased revenue inflows. In addition, the company achieved a positive free cash flow for the first time in the full year 2011, which continued in the first quarter of 2012 with a 21.4% free cash flow margin.

SUBSCRIBER BASE:  In Q1 2012 life:) increased the total subscribers’ base by 13.8% YoY and reached 9.9 million subscribers. The company grew its 3-month active subscribers’ base by 16.4% YoY and reached 7.1 million users having added one million subscribers during the year.

ARPU and MOU: Total ARPU grew by 7.8% in Q1 2012 YoY and made up UAH 24.8 mainly due to increased usage of data services and international calls. In Q1 2012 MOU remained almost flat at 195.6 minutes (196.7 minutes for Q1 2011).

Alexander Barinov, CEO of life:) commented the results of Q1 2012: “In 2012 year we continue our strategy targeted at regional focus, executional excellence, differentiation and data which are the main drivers of life:) annual and quarterly growth trends. In the first quarter 2012 we highly focused on the products which reflect the growing needs of our subscribers in data volumes, international calls and roaming services. Besides our marketing achievements, the company continued to strengthen its financial health: this quarter became the fourth quarter in a row with EBITDA margin exceeding 25%”.