VimpelCom 2Q net income down as Wind Telecom purchase sets scene for transformation

VimpelCom has posted a 2Q 2011 net income of $239 million under US GAAP.

The net result is down 29% year on year, despite 2Q EBITDA rising 73% year on year to $2.184 billion, as 2Q revenues climbed 109% year on year to $5.532 billion.The company noted the actual results reflected the acquisition of Wind Telecom in March 2011, as well as the completion of its acquisition of Kyivstar a year earlier, and provided pro forma figures, stripping out these factors, showing a net rise of 42% year on year in net income to $312 million, EBITDA up marginally to $2.731 billion, and Revenues up 9% to $6.008 billion.VimpelCom noted it had achieved an 11% increase in mobile subscriber numbers to 193 million, with strong broadband and mobile data growth in Russia Italy and Ukraine. CEO, Jo Lunder highlighted the transformational merger with Wind Telecom earlier this year, and the synergies delivered from the Kyivstar purchase earlier than forecast, in announcing an interim dividend of 0.45 cents per common share.“This quarter in which our transformational merger with Wind Telecom closed, shows solid performance across all of our Business Units. Our diligent efforts resulted in an improvement in our market position in Russia, relative outperformance of the market in Italy, and continued profitable growth across our operations in emerging markets. Moreover, we are leveraging our scale advantage, which is reflected by our ability to deliver synergies from the merger with Kyivstar ahead of expectations. And, although we are early in the process of integrating Wind Telecom, our confidence in significant synergies from our enlarged company is reaffirmed.”