Benzinga | Feb 18, 2021 07:12AM EST

VEON Posts Q4 Earnings Decline, Shuns Dividend

* VEON Ltd (NASDAQ: VEON) reported a year-on-year revenue decline of 11.3% to $2 billion in the fourth quarter of FY20, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. The fall was mainly due to adverse currency movements.

* Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Bangladesh posted robust revenues, with Russia exuding improving trends. 4G users grew 34% to over 20 million. Data revenue grew 15%.

* EBITDA decreased 11.6% to $826 million and net profit declined 27.6% to $35 million.

* The company did not pay any dividends for FY20 in line with previous guidance.

* The company expects low to mid-single-digit local currency growth in both Group revenue and EBITDA for FY21. Capex intensity is expected at 22-23% (versus 23.7% in FY20) and group leverage of around 2.4x (against 2.3x in FY20).

* Price action: VEON shares are down 1.66% at $1.78 in the pre-market session on the last check Thursday.