VimpelCom Q1 Net Profits Up With 4.5%

Russian telecommunications company VimpelCom Ltd.VIP +2.75% on Tuesday posted a net profit of $318 million in the first quarter, helped by a focus on “profitable growth and cash generation.”

First-quarter net profit was $318 million, First-quarter actual net profit was $318 million, compared with $500 million profit a year earlier.

The result was above the average estimate of a $284.4 million net profit from a Dow Jones Newswires survey of five analysts.

Actual earnings before depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, went up to $2.31 billion from $1.2 billion a year earlier, below analysts’ estimates of $2.298 billion.

Revenue rose to $5.61 billion from $5.48 billion, in line with analysts’ average forecasts of $5.63 billion.

Total mobile subscriber base increased 12% year-on-year to 209 million.

“We have delivered strong organic Ebitda and revenue growth leading to another quarter of good cash flows. The benefits of executing on our strategy can be seen across our businesses: in Russia, our focus on profitable growth has delivered a strong organic increase of 9% in Ebitda and 11% in revenues,” said VimpelCom Chief Executive Jo Lunder said in a statement.

The company recorded solid revenue growth from its African and Asian operations, with market share also rising in Italy, the CEO said.

“We will continue to review our portfolio of operations and we will remain focused on profitable growth and cash generation,” Lunder said.