Strong performance in a challenging year

(Fornebu, 2 February 2021) «The year 2020 was marked by the global pandemic. In this unprecedented situation, Telenor accelerated the digitalization, managed to safeguard employees and maintained critical connectivity to customers. For the full year, Telenor delivered an organic EBITDA growth of 2 percent and a solid free cash flow of NOK 21 billion.

In the fourth quarter, we continue to deliver a strong performance in the Nordics. In Norway growth in mobile and new fixed services more than offset a shortfall of roaming and copper legacy revenues. In Finland revenue and EBITDA are growing as a result of our customers’ demand for higher data speeds, including our new 5G offerings. In Asia, pressure on the top line remains due to intense competition and impact from the pandemic, in particular in Thailand and Malaysia. For the Group, subscription and traffic revenues decreased by 3 percent, however our flexibility to manage cost and investments levels resulted in stable EBITDA and improved cash flow.

Entering 2021, we will maintain focus on our strategic priorities; growth, modernisation and responsible business. In the coming months, all our markets and especially our Asian subsidiaries will still be impacted by the spread of COVID-19 and government responsive measures. For the full year 2021, we expect organic subscription and traffic revenues and Ebitda to remain around 2020 level. We foresee a capex to sales ratio of 15-16% percent. Based on 2020 performance, the Board of Directors propose a dividend of NOK 9.00 per share in line with our dividend policy.»

Sigve Brekke, President and CEO, Telenor Group

KEY FIGURES TELENOR GROUP	Fourth quarter		Year
NOK in million	2020	2019	2020	2019
Revenues	30,949	31,737	122,811	113,666
Organic revenue growth (%)	-3.9	2.8	-2.3	1.2
Subscription and traffic revenues	22,916	23,363	93,439	85,954
Organic subscription and traffic revenue growth (%)	-3.4	1.8	-1.9	0.4
EBITDA before other income and other expenses	13,512	13,397	56,520	50,735
Organic EBITDA growth (%)	-0.2	4.6	1.7	-2.7
EBITDA before other income and other expenses/Revenues (%)	43.7	42.2	46.0	44.6
Net income attributable to equity holders of Telenor ASA	7,689	1,774	17,341	7,773
Capex excl. licences and spectrum	5,787	5,574	16,351	17,415
Total Capex	10,389	6,194	21,440	18,075
Free cash flow before M&A	1,988	547	12,542	3,831
Total Free cash flow	9,130	-8,742	20,855	-18,998
Mobile subscriptions - Change in quarter/Total (mill.)	1.5	2.6	181.8	186.0

Fourth quarter 2020 summary¹