STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 25, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Tele2 AB ("Tele2") ("the Group") (Stockholmsborsen: TEL2A and TEL2B), Europe's leading alternative telecom operator, today announced its consolidated results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2005.
-- EBITDA for Q3 2005 increased by 13% to MSEK 1,873 (1,661)
-- Swedish mobile telephony reported an EBITDA margin of more
than 48% for Q3 2005
-- Operating revenue for the first nine months increased by 13%
to MSEK 36,003 (31,803)
-- Profit after tax for the first nine months amounted to
MSEK 2,087 (2,238)
-- Earnings per share for the first nine months amounted
to SEK 4.71 (5.05)
Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, President and CEO of Tele2 AB commented: "Tele2 produced an strong set of results this quarter. Compared to Q3 2004, revenues grew by 14% and EBITDA grew by 13% to BSEK 1.9, the highest we have ever reported in a quarter. At the same time we completed the acquisition of Comunitel, and proceeded with our offer for Versatel.
"In the Nordic region our performance this quarter was strong. The ?xed line business performed well and in Sweden our mobile business produced a solid result, with an EBITDA margin of more than 48%.
"Central Europe continued its strong showing this year with another good result this quarter. In Germany we are launching our ADSL offer, taking to twelve the number of countries where we now offer ADSL. Tele2 now has a total of 750,000 ADSL customers.
"In the Baltic and Russia market area we continue to make great strides with record customer intake combined with strong revenue and EBITDA growth. In August, we soft launched our first mobile operation in Croatia, and followed up with a commercial launch in October.
"As mentioned earlier this year, we started to accelerate our marketing spend this quarter, particularly in France, on ADSL and on our MVNO, however the bulk of this expenditure will occur in the last quarter. We are not satisfied with the churn development in Southern Europe, France and Italy in particular. Nevertheless, our experience tells us that the cross selling opportunities available to us through ADSL in Italy as well as through mobile and ADSL in France will address the problem, as our product range is widened and marketing intensified.
"We have also reviewed our operations in certain markets where we felt the regulatory environment was not favourable. To that end, we have announced the halting of any further investments in Finland and in our fixed line businesses in the Baltic countries.
"We look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead as we continue to expand our product range and successfully leverage off our recent acquisitions."
Tele2 is Europe's leading alternative telecom operator. Tele2 always strives to offer the market's best prices. With our unique values, we provide cheap and simple telecom for all Europeans every day. We have more than 30 million customers in 25 countries. We offer products and services in fixed and mobile telephony, Internet access, data networks, cable TV and content services. Our main competitors are the former government monopolies. Tele2 was founded in 1993 by Jan Stenbeck and has been listed on Stockholmsborsen since 1996. In 2004 we had operating revenue of SEK 43 billion and reported a profit (EBITDA) of SEK 6.6 billion.
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