Norway's biggest telecoms group Telenor said today that cost savings and higher revenues helped it book a bigger-than-expected 30 per cent rise in third-quarter core earnings and forecast further growth.
Telenor shares climbed to a 22-month high as analysts hailed a strong balance sheet, in contrast to many European rivals struggling with huge debts, as well as news that Telenor was considering paying bigger dividends.
Telenor, which has mobile operations in countries ranging from Thailand to Ukraine, said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 4.9 billion crowns ($698.7 million) from 3.8 billion a year earlier.
The figure for the July-September period beat an average forecast of 4.5 billion crowns in a Reuters poll of analysts.Revenues rose to 13.5 billion crowns from 12.2 billion, also outperforming forecasts of 13.1 billion.
Telenor's net interest-bearing debt was at 21.6 billion crowns at the end of the third quarter compared with Telenor's own market consensus forecast at 25.5 billion.
Telenor's stock, of which the Norwegian state is the largest shareholder with 62.6 per cent, gained 4.9 per cent by 1146 GMT to crowns, the highest level since January 2001.
Telenor's largest division, Telenor Mobile, was the main contributor to the higher earnings with EBITDA of 2.6 billion crowns, jumping from 2.1 billion a year earlier and beating analysts' forecast of 2.4 billion.
Unlike most Nordic rivals, Telenor has expanded aggressively beyond the near-saturated region with stakes in about a dozen foreign mobile firms from southeast Asia to Russia and Europe.