OREANDA-NEWS. VimpelCom Ltd. today announces financial and operating results for the quarter ended 30 September 2016. These results and the prior year numbers reflect the reclassification of Wind Italy as an asset held for sale pursuant to the announcement of signing of an agreement to form the joint venture with 3 Italia in August 2015.

JEAN-YVES CHARLIER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, COMMENTS:
“VimpelCom reported stable performance in the third quarter of this year, in line with expectations. Service revenue and underlying EBITDA rose by 0.6% in the quarter on an organic basis, with particularly strong performances in Pakistan and Ukraine. Our business in Italy also reported solid results, with EBITDA growth of 11%, prior to the closing of the joint venture, which is expected shortly. We also continue to grow mobile data revenue across our footprint, by 28% year on year. As a result, we remain on track to achieve our financial targets for the full year, although at the lower range for service revenue and underlying EBITDA margin, while the capex to revenue ratio is trending towards 17%.

Our strategic plan to transform VimpelCom remains well underway with this quarter’s closing of our merger in Pakistan and the approval from the EU and Italian authorities of our joint venture in Italy. Furthermore, Telenor’s sale of a part of its stake in VimpelCom is an important milestone in our transformational journey, nearly doubling the size of our free float. Finally, We are also pleased to announce today, as expected, an interim dividend of USD 3.5 cents per American Depositary Share.”

KEY RESULTS AND DEVELOPMENTS
Reported service revenue declined 3% YoY, organically growing by 0.6%, with strong results in Pakistan and Ukraine, offset by continued weakness in Algeria; strong organic performance in mobile data revenue of +28% YoY

Reported EBITDA of USD 896 million; underlying EBITDA organically increased 0.6% with a margin of 40.6%

Profit for the period attributable to VimpelCom shareholders of USD 445 million

All regulatory approvals for the Italy joint venture received; closing expected shortly; strong performance in Italy ahead of transaction closing

VimpelCom free float nearly doubled to 20.1% after Telenor’s sale of VimpelCom ADSs in September 2016

FY 2016 guidance confirmed at lower end of range for service revenue, underlying EBITDA margin and capex/revenue

Interim dividend of US 3.5 cents per ADS announced today.