OREANDA-NEWS. December 30, 2010. Far East Telecom (RTS: ESPK, MICEX: DLSV, OTC USA: FEEOY, Frankfurt and Berlin stock exchanges: D7A) hereby reports the results of its unaudited financial results dated to international financial reporting standards (IFRS).

The consolidated financial statement includes the assets, liabilities and results of the Far East Telecom group of companies, which provides local voice, cellular telephony and other telecommunications services.

Headline financial indicators  

 

for 9 months ending September 30, 2010, RUR, mln

 

for 9 months ending September 30, 2009, RUR, mln

 

Change, %

 

 

Revenue

13,419

12,736

5.4%

 

Revenue from telecom services

13,015

12,421

4.8%

 

Operating expenses (net) before  depreciation and amortization

8,433

7,981

5.7%

 

OIBDA[1]

4,986

4,755

4.9%

 

OIBDA margin,%

37.2%

37.3%

 

 

EBITDA[2]

4,996

4,762

4.9%

 

EBITDA margin,%

37.2%

37.4%

 

 

Profit for reporting period

2,155

1,937

11.3%

 

Net profit margin,%

16.1%

15.2%

 

 

Contribution of subsidiaries   

Subsidiary

Core activity

Proportion in charter capital and other participatory right, %

as of September 30, 2010

 

As of September 30, 2009

Sakhatelecom

Local voice

100.00

100.00

Akos

Mobile telephony

94.45

94.45

Interdaltelecom

Local voice

100.00

100.00

Wireless Information Technologies

Mobile telephony

100.00

100.00

Network Capital (owned by Sakhatelecom)

Local voice

100.00

100.00

Shakhtersvyaz

 

 

-

100.00

Revenue breakdown

 

for 9 months ending September 30, 2010, RUR, mln

 

for 9 months ending September 30, 2009, RUR, mln

 

Change, %

 

 

Local voice

5,046

4,804

5.0%

 

Telegraph, datacom and telematic services (Internet)

4,241

3,509

20.9%

 

Intrazonal telephony

1,714

1,844

(7.1%)

 

Interconnect and traffic transmission

803

1080

(25.6%)

 

Mobile and radio (cellular) telephony

897

800

12.1%

 

Mobile and radio telephony, wire broadcasting, radio broadcasting and television

125

120

4,2%

 

Other telecom services[3]

189

264

(28.4%)

 

Total telecom services

13,015

12,421

4.8%

 

The increase in revenue was mainly attributable to the following factors:

an increase in revenue from datacom and telematic services (Internet);

higher local voice revenue;

higher revenue from mobile and radio (cellular) telephony.  

Local telephony 

The rise in local telephony revenue amounting to RUR 242 mln was attributable to the following tariff hikes: 9.8% at Far East Telecom effective as of February 15, 2010 and 7.2% at Sakhatelecom effective as of March 1, 2010.  The local voice subscriber base amounted to 1,597,078 subscribers as of September 30, 2010[4].

Telegraph, datacom and telematic services (Internet)

The fastest pace of revenue growth was seen in interactive digital television services, which reached 64% (RUR 280.5 mln in the first nine months of 2010, vs. RUR 171.2 mln in the year-earlier period).  Higher revenue was attributable to an increase in the subscriber base equal to 52,255 subscribers.  The increase in revenue was due to a rise of 52,255 users in the subscriber base.  As of September 30, 2010 the number of subscribers totaled 125,121 subscribers, vs. 72,866 as of September 30, 2009.  The subscriber base gains were attributable to active development and promotion of the operator’s services.

Broadband Internet revenue surged by 26%, reaching RUR 3,455.1 mln for 9M10 vs. RUR 2.748.9 mln in the year-earlier period.  The main revenue growth driver was a rise in the subscriber base.  Compared with the same period in 2009 the subscriber base grew by 87,789 users and reached 494,905.

As for IP VPN services (virtual private networks) the growth in revenue amounted to RUR 58.6 mln or 46% (for the first nine months of 2010 vs. RUR 128 mln in the year-earlier period).  The change was attributable to an increase in the number of access points (2,774 points as of September 30, 2010 and 1,785 as of September 30, 2009).

Intrazonal telephony

Revenue from intazonal telephony decreased by 7.1% (RUR 130 mln) for the first nine months of 2010, compared to the same period in 2009. The decrease in revenue was attributable to a decline in F2F revenue amounting to RUR 135.7 mln (-20.6%) and from F2M traffic (-5.5%) as a result of mobile substitution.  This downturn was partially offset by an increase in leasing intrazonal channels equal to RUR 56.6 mln.

Mobile and radio (cellular) telephony

Revenue from the provision of cellular telephony services for the first nine months of 2010 increased by RUR 97 mln of 12.1%.  Growth was attributable to higher revenue at Akos as a result of active service promotion.

Interconnect and traffic transmission 

The decline in revenue from interconnect and traffic transmission for the first nine months of 2010 relative to the same period in 2009 amounted to RUR 277 mln or 25.6%.  This decrease was attributable to the following factors:   

a decrease in traffic volumes from zonal termination of calls in conjunction with the transmission of traffic from mobile operators and DLD/ILD traffic through alterative zonal fixed line operators, and also due to the development of mobile substitution processes;

a decline in volumes of traffic related to local origination of calls due to a decline in the share of switched Internet access services and an increase in the proportion of DSL services.  

Operating expenses and revenues  

 

for 9 months ending September 30, 2010, RUR, mln

 

for 9 months ending September 30, 2009, RUR, mln

.

Change, %

 

 

Payrolls, other payments and social insurance contributions

(3,902)

(3,655)

6.8%

 

Depreciation and amortization

(1,794)

(1,741)

3.0%

 

Interconnect

(1,559)

(1,597)

(2.4%)

 

Materials, repair and maintenance, utilities

(1,277)

(1,196)

6.8%

 

Other operating revenues[5]

211

265

(20.4%)

 

Other operating expenses[6]

(1,906)

(1,798)

6.0%

 

Total operating expenses

(10,227)

(9,722)

5.2%

 

 

Payrolls, other payments and social insurance contributions 

The increase in this metric is due to the indexation of payrolls in 2009, as a result of a rise in the minimum subsistence level.

Interconnect expenses 

A 2.4% decrease in the item “Interconnect expenses” was due to the termination of Rostelecom line lease at the Kamchatka branch and the switch to a multi-service telecom network which was commissioned in 2009 in Primorie, Kamchatka and Magadan branches. 

Materials, repair and maintenance, utility services

The main reason for a 6.8% increase in the item “Materials, repair and maintenance, utility services” was due to higher utilities and material expenses, including subscriber equipment used for providing services. 

Other operating expenses 

A rise in the item “Other operating expenses” by 6.0% was attributable to an increase in expenses for interactive services for software support and databases, lease expenses and also higher to higher deductions to the universal service fund.

Equity and borrowed capital 

Assets owned by the Far East Telecom Group of companies amounted to RUR 11,996 mln as of September 30, 2010, which implies an increase of 6.9% or RUR 772 mln compared with data as of December 31, 2009 which amounted to RUR 11,224 mln). In addition, the proportion of equity in balance sheet currency compared with the beginning of the reporting period decreased by 0.6% from 51.1% to 50.5%. 

 

as of September 30, 2010, RUR, mln

 

as of December 31, 2009, RUR mln

 

Change, %

 

 

Interest debt[7]

6,961

6,276

10.9%

 

Net debt[8]

6,438

5,938

8.4%

 

A rise in debt indicators was attributable to long-term credit resources raised for the purpose of financing the buyback of own equity under the reorganization of the company for a total of RUR 844 mln in September 2010.

Liquidity

As of September 30, 2010 current liabilities exceeded current assets by RUR 3 mln (as of December 31, 2009 by RUR 2,772 mln). 

Liquidity indicators

as of September 30, 2010

 

As of December 31, 2009

 

 

 

Absolute liquidity ratio[9]

0.14

0.11

 

Acid test ratio[10]

0.58

0.35

 

Working capital ratio[11]

1.00

0.52

 

Working capital ratio[12]

(2.19)

(2.54)

 

[1] OIBDA is calculated as revenue minus operating expenses before depreciation.

[2] EBITDA is calculated as pre-tax profit not including depreciation, amortization and interest expenses (net).

[3] Including outsourcing and Agency fees.

[4] Only commercial main lines are taken into account here, not agency main lines.

[5] Including profit from the sale of fixed assets and other assets and the remuneration of losses from the provision of the universal service fund.

[6] Including outsourcing and expenses related to management, agency fees, fire and non-agency security expenses, property lease expenses, universal service fund deductions, advertising fees, audit and consulting costs.

[7] Interest debt is equal to the sum of long-term liabilities on credits and loans, long-term financial lease liabilities, current liabilities on credits and loans, parts of long-term credits and loans repayable withint a year, current liabilities on financial lease.

[8] Net debt is calculated as interest debt minus cash & cash equivalents.

[9] This ratio is calculated as the sum of cash & cash equivalents and short-term financial investments divided by the sum of all current liabilities.

[10] This ratio is calculated as the sum of cash & cash equivalents and short-term financial investments, current trade accounts receivable divided by the sum of all current liabilities.

[11] This ratio is calculated as the sum of all current assets divided by the sum of all current liabilities.

[12] This ratio is calculated as the difference between equity and all non-current assets divided by the sum of all current assets.