Veon boosts profit and revenue forecasts, cuts investment

Dutch mobile telecoms operator Veon raised its full-year core profit and revenue targets on Monday, while cutting its investment forecast to improve financial discipline after selling its Russian operations.

The Amsterdam-listed company now expects full-year growth in its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to be between 18% and 20%, against a prior forecast of between 10% and 14%.

Veon also sees 18%-20% sales growth in the full year. Its previous outlook was for revenue to increase between 16 and 19%, guidance which had already been raised once in August.

Shares were up around 4% at 1110 GMT.

The group, which operates across six markets, nonetheless cut its investment target. Veon’s capex intensity outlook for the year was reduced to 16 to 18% compared to previous guidance of between 18 and 20%.

“Following the completion of the sale of Russia operations, financial discipline remains our top priority,” CEO Kaan Terzioglu said in a statement.

The company announced its complete exit from the Russian market last month. Veon “has a very different profile” after leaving Russia, Terzioglu told Reuters, describing a “more compact company, faster growing” with “a much healthier balance sheet”.

Veon’s gross debt was slashed by more than half over the past year to $4.33 billion at end-September from $11.45 billion a year ago.

Terzioglu also said Veon was working with Microsoft , Open AI and Google in what he described as a push for “AI for all,” with an intent to bring the technology into local languages. Reuters