Mobile TeleSystems Announces Financial Results for the Third Quarter Ended September 30, 2014

MOSCOW, November 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Key Financial Highlights of Q3 2014 

• Consolidated Group revenues increased 3.6% y-o-y to RUB 107.1 billion
• Mobile service revenue in Russia rose 9.1% y-o-y to RUB 77.3 billion
• Data traffic revenue in Russia grew 37.2% y-o-y to RUB 17.2 billion
• Consolidated Group Adjusted OIBDA^[1] up 4.1% y-o-y to RUB 48.2 billion
• Group OIBDA margin improved 0.2pp to 45.0%
• Consolidated net income^[2] of RUB 16.1 billion

Amended Outlook for 2014 

• Group revenue guidance increased from 1% to >2%
• Group OIBDA guidance increased from stable to ≈ 1%
• MTS Russia revenue guidance increased from 3-5% to ≈5%
• MTS Russia OIBDA guidance increased from 3-5% to ≈5%
• Group CAPEX guidance reiterated to approximately RUB 90 billion

Key Corporate and Industry Highlights 

• Completed dividend payment of RUB 18.6 per ordinary MTS share (RUB 37.2 per ADR), or a total of RUB 38.435 bln based on the full-year 2013 financial results.
• Signed with the Republic of Uzbekistan a Settlement Agreement, the purpose of which was to resolve all disputes between the parties and enable MTS to resume operations in Uzbekistan, and discontinued international arbitration proceedings between MTS and the Republic of Uzbekistan at the International Center for Settlement of the Investment Disputes ("the ICSID").
• Took possession of a controlling stake in the Russian-Uzbek entity Universal Mobile Systems LLC and plans to commercially launch operations throughout the territory of Uzbekistan on December 1, 2014.
• Completed dividend payment of RUB 6.2 per ordinary MTS share (RUB 12.4 per ADR), or a total of RUB 12.812 bln based on the H1 2014 financial results.
• Signed an agreement with Sberbank of Russia to open a non-revolving line of credit for a total amount of RUB 50 billion and amended terms of an existing credit agreement in the amount of RUB 20 billion.
• Launched satellite TV under the MTS brand in Russia.
• Signed a binding agreement with MTS Bank OJSC to acquire 952,000 ordinary shares of the Bank's additional shares issuance for RUB 3,639,286,560.

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1. OIBDA net of non-cash gain in the amount of RUB 3 604 mln due to transfer of a 50.01% stake in UMS, subsidiary in Uzbekistan, to MTS

2.  Attributable to the Group

Commentary 

Mr. Andrei Dubovskov, MTS President and CEO, commented, "During the quarter we increased our Group revenues by 3.6% year-over-year to RUB 107.1 bln. We witnessed revenue growth in Russia, Ukraine and Turkmenistan, but registered a slight decline in Armenia. As in Q2, hryvna devaluation and a weakening ruble impacted our Group performance."

Mr. Vasyl Latsanych, MTS Vice President for Marketing, said, "In Q3, we saw very strong growth in our Russian business unit with revenues improving by 8.4% year-over-year to RUB 99.2 bln. The growth was attributable to exceptionally strong performance of our mobile operations where revenues grew 9.1% year-over-year. Key drivers included subscriber migration from feature phones to smartphones as smartphone penetration in our active base reached almost 40%; success of our Smart family of tariffs which allows us to upsell existing subscribers on data plans by stimulating consumption of data products; continued growth from messaging as we increased sales of SMS bundles; growing penetration of tablets as number of tablets on our network increased by 35% year-over-year; expansion of the subscriber base as we added 5.95 million subscribers during the period; and high-quality of subscriber additions as demonstrated by positive dynamics in ARPU and sustained lowest level of churn in the market. Quarter-on-quarter our revenues rose by 9.1% as we benefited from seasonally strong roaming revenues throughout Russia and an increase in the subscriber base."

Mr. Alexey Kornya, MTS Vice President for Finance and Investments, added, "In Q3 2014, Adjusted OIBDA increased by 4.1% to RUB 48.2 bln rubles. This figure was adjusted for a non-cash gain in the amount of 3.6 billion rubles we realized from the transfer of the controlling stake in UMS, an operating subsidiary in Uzbekistan, to MTS. Our growth in Adjusted OIBDA reflects many factors, including topline revenue dynamics in each of our markets of operation; the effect of a steadily rising contribution from data revenues in Russia; the impact of hryvna and ruble depreciation on our operating expenses; increased taxes and spectrum fees in Ukraine; rising G&A costs due to the enhancement of our mobile and fixed networks in Russia; as well as pressure from inflationary expenses. On a quarterly basis, adjusted OIBDA grew by 11.5%, which was largely driven by seasonally higher roaming revenues and higher-quality subscriber additions, while maintaining steady sales & marketing expenses. Our Adjusted Group OIBDA margin net of the UMS effect came in at 45.0%. In Russia, OIBDA grew by 9.4% year-over-year to 45.4 billion rubles. This reflects both strong growth in mobile service revenues and an increased contribution from high-margin data revenues. This translates into a margin of 45.8%, the highest number we have registered in our Russian business unit since early 2009. In Ukraine, OIBDA declined by 10.7% year-over-year to UAH 1.21 billion. Profitability was under pressure due to increased taxes and frequency fees, higher payroll, electricity, site rentals costs and impact of the currency devaluation on cost items, including roaming and SIM cards, denominated in foreign currencies."

He continued, "Despite macroeconomic weakness across our markets of operations, MTS continues to generate stable operating cash flows. Our free cash flows for the first nine months of 2014 declined by 11.7% compared to the previous period, but in Q2 2013 we benefited from a one-off gain from the settlement over Bitel LLC. Adjusted for this factor, our free cash flow was down by 7.6%, but this drop can be explained by higher CAPEX spending in Q3 2014; during the quarter we prepaid for a higher amount of non-ruble denominated equipment in anticipation of further weakening of the ruble. For the period, net income declined quarter-on quarter by 23.8% to RUB 16.1 bln. In Q4 2013, we registered a non-cash FOREX loss in the amount of RUB 9.5 bln from a revaluation of the foreign currency-denominated portion of the debt portfolio after significant ruble depreciation. The quarterly decline in bottom line was more pronounced as in the second quarter 2014 we had a non-cash FOREX gain in the amount of RUB 4.2 bln due to strengthening of the ruble."

Mr. Andrei Dubovskov, MTS President and CEO, concluded, "The situation in Ukraine remains highly volatile and creates uncertainty at the Group level.  It is hard to forecast what the operational trends in Ukraine would be going forward. Nevertheless, with the potential of 3G on the horizon we remain enthusiastic about the long-term prospects of the market. Nevertheless, we feel comfortable at this stage raising our Group guidance for 2014: we expect strength in the Russian market and better-than-expected performance in Ukraine and Armenia to lift revenue by at least 2% for the year. Russia will see around 5% of growth to this figure based on strong performance in the mobile market. In spite of the extreme volatility in the ruble we are seeing in Q4, we do expect Group OIBDA to improve by approximately 1%. CAPEX remains on track at roughly RUB 90 bln, but the figure might be impacted by currency fluctuations."

Additional Information 

As of Q3 2014, MTS adjusted its subscriber reporting methodology to reflect three-months of subscriber activity instead of the previously used six-month methodology.  In accompanying materials, subscriber numbers, as well as related operational indicators like Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) and Minutes of Use (MOU), Average Price Per Minute (APPM) and churn have been restated since Q1 2013 to provide like-for-like comparisons for FY2014 operational indicators.

MTS continues to see sustained macroeconomic volatility in its markets of operations that may impact the financial and operational performance throughout the Group.

This press release provides a summary of some of the key financial and operating indicators for the period ended September 30, 2014. For full disclosure materials, please visit http://www.mtsgsm.com/resources/reports/ . 

Learn more about MTS. Visit the official blog of the Investor Relations Department at http://www.mtsgsm.com/blog/ and follow us on Twitter: JoshatMTS

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC ("MTS") is the leading telecommunications group in Russia and the CIS, offering mobile and fixed voice, broadband, pay TV as well as content and entertainment services in one of the world's fastest growing regions. Including its subsidiaries, the Group services over 100 million mobile subscribers. The Group has been awarded GSM licenses in Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Armenia and Belarus, a region that boasts a total population of more than 200 million. Since June 2000, MTS' Level 3 ADRs have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol MBT). Additional information about the MTS Group can be found at http://www.mtsgsm.com.

Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of MTS, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify forward looking statements by terms such as "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "will," "could," "may" or "might," and the negative of such terms or other similar expressions.  We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not undertake or intend to update these statements to reflect events and circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. We refer you to the documents MTS files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the Company's most recent Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned "Risk Factors" that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, the severity and duration of current economic and financial conditions, including volatility in interest and exchange rates, commodity and equity prices and the value of financial assets; the impact of Russian, U.S. and other foreign government programs to restore liquidity and stimulate national and global economies, our ability to maintain our current credit rating and the impact on our funding costs and competitive position if we do not do so, strategic actions, including acquisitions and dispositions and our success in integrating acquired businesses, potential fluctuations in quarterly results, our competitive environment, dependence on new service development and tariff structures, rapid technological and market change, acquisition strategy, risks associated with telecommunications infrastructure, governmental regulation of the telecommunications industries and other risks associated with operating in Russia and the CIS, volatility of stock price, financial risk management and future growth subject to risks.

For further information, please contact in Moscow:
Joshua B. Tulgan
Director, Corporate Finance & Investor Relations
Mobile TeleSystems OJSC
Tel: +7-495-223-2025
E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Mobile TeleSystems OJSC