Press release
April 24, 2025
A solid start to the year
First quarter summary
- Revenue increased 3.5% to SEK 20,035 million (19,360) and like for like, revenue increased 3.3%.
- Service revenue increased 1.9% to SEK 17,031 million (16,720) and like for like, service revenue increased 1.8%.
- Adjusted EBITDA increased 6.7% to SEK 7,803 million (7,312) and like for like, adjusted EBITDA increased 6.7%.
- Operating income increased 36.4% to SEK 3,602 million (2,641).
- Total net income declined to SEK 692 million (757) and total EPS declined to 0.13 SEK (0.15), as increased operating income in continuing operations was more than offset by negative net income from discontinued operations following a non-cash impairment.
- Free cash flow increased to SEK 1,723 million (-278).
- The leverage ratio was 2.18x at the end of the quarter compared to 2.28x in the previous quarter.
- Dividend of SEK 0.50 per share was paid to shareholders.
- The outlook for 2025 is reiterated.
- On February 25, 2025, Telia Company entered into an agreement to divest TV and Media to Schibsted Media for an enterprise value of SEK 6.55 billion on a cash and debt-free basis. As a result, TV and Media is classified as discontinued operations and a net, non-cash impairment of SEK 1.9 billion was recognized within discontinued operations.
CEO comment
"The first full quarter of our country-led operating model has been encouraging. Overall, our business performed according to expectations, with service revenue growth of 1.8% and EBITDA growth of 6.7%. This excludes TV and Media, which we agreed to divest to Schibsted Media, in line with our focus on our core telecom business. We are fully determined to get the most from our new set-up, and from Telia's unique position as a trusted and sustainable partner for our customers.
Commercial progress
In Sweden, consumer trends were stable, with fiber broadband and TV again driving growth, as we pursue our convergent household strategy. In Enterprise, we are seeing early signs of improvement in customer activity, although it remains to be seen if this translates into new orders, given the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty. EBITDA growth accelerated on the back of cost efficiencies resulting from the change program launched in September 2024.
In Finland, we are continuing to simplify the business by ramping down non-core activities. Combined with a generally weak macroeconomic environment, this resulted in a decline in service revenue in the quarter. The mobile subscriber losses in Consumer continued, but at a slightly reduced rate compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, our focus on SMEs resulted in positive subscriber growth in this segment. Cost efficiencies from the change program resulted in lower resource costs and EBITDA growth of 6%.
While the business development in Norway remains challenging, it was stable overall in the quarter, albeit with small declines in service revenue and EBITDA owing to headwinds in our broadband and TV business. We are making both network and customer-facing investments to improve these trends, while strengthening our commercial strategy as well as scrutinizing further cost-reduction opportunities. Service revenue and EBITDA are both expected to decline further in 2025 before improving, owing in part to the expiry of a mobile wholesale contract.
Lithuania continues to show solid growth across mobile and fixed, partly helped by the success of a Netflix offering launched in the quarter. Combined with effective cost control, this resulted in double-digit EBITDA growth.
Estonia had a similarly solid development, including strong growth in public sector IT deliveries, resulting in mid-single digit growth in both service revenue and EBITDA.
Telia Towers is now a separately disclosed business no longer organized under Telia Sweden, Norway and Finland. Since Telia Towers was formed in partnership with Alecta and Brookfield in 2021, it has developed well. Today, it has EBITDA of close to SEK 1.5 billion, and approximately half of its revenue comes from external customers.
Sustainability progress
In January, Telia was awarded an EcoVadis Platinum Medal for the third consecutive year for our sustainability performance, ranking in the top 1% of 130,000 global companies assessed across 21 criteria.
In March, we launched our Climate Transition Plan, which presents our path to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. It also sets out how Telia's solutions - from 5G networks to the Internet of Things - can help customers to reduce their footprint and save energy.
Financial progress
We are executing in line with our financial plan for the year, having adjusted our free cash flow target in February to around SEK 7.5 billion to reflect the divestment of TV and Media. Our balance sheet strengthened to a leverage of 2.18x, down from 2.28x at the end of 2024, and is expected to strengthen further when the TV and Media transaction closes in Q3 at the latest.
Looking ahead
After the end of the quarter, uncertainty and volatility increased in financial markets and international trade following the proposed US tariffs. While European telecoms is not one of the sectors most exposed to these proposals, our business has interdependencies with global supply chains, FX rates and overall economic growth in our region. We are monitoring the situation closely, while focusing on what we can control and on the continued execution of our strategic plan.
With current visibility, our full-year financial outlook is unchanged, including service revenue growth of around 2% and EBITDA growth of at least 5%, as well as free cash flow of around SEK 7.5 billion. In line with our previous forecasts, service revenue growth is still expected to be somewhat lower in the first half of the year than in the second half. As for the EBITDA growth profile, we expect it to be tilted towards Q4, with somewhat lower growth in Q2 and Q3.
I am pleased to see how well our Telia colleagues have delivered throughout a period of change, and the high level of customer focus across our organization. I want to thank all our people and external stakeholders for their ongoing support, which will be invaluable as we continue to evolve our business and deliver on our commitments."
Patrik Hofbauer
President & CEO
In the CEO comment, all growth rates disclosed are based on the "like for like" definition and EBITDA refers to adjusted EBITDA, unless otherwise stated. See definitions for more information. Free cash flow outlook statements are based on assumptions of normalized cash CAPEX for licenses and spectrum of SEK 650 million per year.
This information is information that Telia Company AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the contact person set out below, at 07:00 CET on April 24, 2025.
NOTES TO EDITORS
For more information, contact Tobias Gyhlénius, Head of Group Communications, on +46 (0)771 77 58 30, visit our newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn. To download our logo, high-resolution images of Telia leaders, offices and solutions, or B-roll footage for editorial use, visit our media bank.
ABOUT TELIA
Telia Company (STO: TELIA) is a Nordic and Baltic telecommunications leader and Nordic media house, serving consumers, businesses and public sector customers with essential digital infrastructure, ICT services and entertainment. Our colleagues serve millions of customers every day in one of the world's most connected regions. We're the hub in the digital ecosystem, providing 26 million mobile, broadband and TV subscriptions that empower people, companies and societies to stay in touch with everything that matters 24/7/365. Learn more at www.teliacompany.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in the press release relating to future status or circumstances, including future performance and other trend projections are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to many factors, many of which are outside the control of Telia Company.
