VEON 2026 Q2 Earnings Call

Thank you, Lucy. Good morning and good afternoon to everyone joining us for VEON's second quarter results. We are the largest NASDAQ-listed company in Dubai. We are taking this opportunity to host this call out of New York and are very pleased to be able to doing that. We thank the people in the room who've joined us. Thank you for the people who've joined us on the webcast. My name is Anand Ramachandran, Chief Corporate Development Officer. Let me introduce management in the room. Next to me is Kaan Terzioglu, our Group CEO. Next to him, Burak Ozer, our Group CFO. As usual, Kaan will begin with the strategic and operational highlights, followed by Burak with a review of our financial performance. We'll then open up the call for Q&A. Before we begin, do note that today's presentation contains some forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties.

Further details are available in our SEC filings, including our Form 20-F. Our earnings release and presentation are also available on our investor relations website. With that, let me hand the call over to Kaan.

Thank you, Anand. Good morning, everyone. Exciting to have you in the room here in New York and do this earnings release here. Beyond excellent financial results, this quarter marks another important milestone in VEON's transformation. We are becoming much more than a telecommunications company. Today, VEON is building one of the world's largest digital ecosystems across emerging markets, combining connectivity, financial services, digital consumer platforms, and enterprise solutions. Our telecom networks connect more than 150 million customers. Our digital platforms deepen those relationships every day. The result is stronger growth, stronger cash generation, and increasing shareholder returns. Most importantly, today's results give us the confidence to raise the outlook for the year. Let me explain how we think about VEON today. Everything begins with connectivity. Connectivity is not the destination. It is our foundation. It is our competitive advantage.

It gives us scale, it gives us distribution edge, it gives us trust, and it gives us daily engagement with millions of customers. On top of that foundation, we have built three digital growth engines: financial services, digital life, digital enterprise. They reinforce one another. Every new service strengthens the customer relationship. Customers stay longer. They spend more. They generate more data. Better data improves AI. Better AI creates better products. Better products create more cash. That cash allows us to invest again. That is the VEON flywheel. Once you understand the flywheel, results are much easier to understand. Growth is broad based. Telecommunications continues to grow twice fast compared to traditional players. Digital is growing substantially faster, multiple times faster. Digital now contributes almost 27% of our total revenues. Cash generation continues to improve. Since August 24, we have already bought back $183 million worth of shares.

Today, we are taking the next step. Starting with this year, we commit to canceling at least $100 million of shares every year, not as a one-time action, but as a sustainable capital allocation framework. I am particularly pleased with the consistency of our execution. That consistency is why we are raising our full year guidance. A little color. Reported EBITDA growth was affected by three exceptional accounting items. Bangladesh benefited from a provision release last year. Profit comparisons include the Pakistan tower transaction last year. This year, it includes the non-cash fair value adjustment on Kyivstar Group warrants. If you adjust for these items, our underlying business is even stronger. Revenue grew 18%, EBITDA grew more than 15%, like for like earnings per share actually grew 88% year-on-year. This is the clearest measure of our true momentum.

On the subject of consistency, Pakistan continues to deliver outstanding performance. Ukraine continues growing with extraordinary circumstances. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Bangladesh all delivered. This matters. It tells us that VEON operating model is becoming repeatable across markets. Only a few years ago, digital represented a relatively small part of VEON. Today, digital has become one of our main growth engines. Our digital platforms now reach more than 227 million customers. Importantly, all three digital businesses are profitable. Financial services, digital life, digital enterprise. They scale efficiently, they require less capital, and they generate attractive returns. Digital revenues grew more than 53%. Digital EBITDA increased more than 66%. Digital is now generating profits and cash more than telecom business. Financial services best demonstrates how the flywheel works. We do not begin with lending. We begin with engagement. Customers use payments every day. Daily engagement builds trust. Trust creates data.

Data improves underwriting. Underwriting enables lending, insurance, and wealth management. Pakistan demonstrates this model at scale. JazzCash has evolved from a payments application into a complete financial ecosystem. Our acquisition of TPL Insurance represents another important milestone in that journey. Our Mastercard partnership will accelerate AI-enabled financial products across every market. If there is one slide I hope you will remember, it is this one. Connectivity brings customers, and digital deepens engagement. Engagement increases loyalty. Higher cash generation funds better products. Every turn of the wheel strengthens the next. That is why multi-play customers already generate significantly higher value, and why we believe we are still in the early chapters of the story. With that, I will hand over to Burak to take you through the financials in more detail.

Burak? Thank you. In second quarter, revenue grew 17% to $1.27 billion, with growth across all of our five markets.

First half revenue also grew 17% to $2.47 billion. 7.6% to $929 million, driven by disciplined pricing and rising customer engagement. Digital revenue grew 53.6%, reaching $342 million, reflecting broader adaptation across platforms and products, plus our recent acquisitions. EBITDA is $552 million, up 6.2% at a 43.4% margin. First half EBITDA grew 11.5% to $1.07 billion. Telecom and infrastructure EBITDA were $428 million, down 3.8% at a 46.1% margin. As Kaan noted earlier, the year-on-year comparison reflects last year's Bangladesh provision release. Digital EBITDA grew 66.2% to $123 million. Digital is less capital intensive than telecom, and that's driving strong cash conversion as it scales.

Profit and EPS for the period reflects $489 million of gain on the Pakistan tower sale in second quarter of last year, and a $22 million fair value loss on KGL warrants in this quarter. Cash generation was strong in the period. Operating cash flow rose 238% in the quarter to $463 million, and 51% for the first half to $860 million. Equity free cash flow after leases and licenses grew 47.5% for the first half to $320 million. EFCF for the second quarter was impacted by prepayment of taxes in Pakistan that will not reoccur. Turning the balance sheet and capital allocation. We ended the quarter with $2.2 billion in cash, including $468 million at headquarters. Net debt, excluding leases, was $1.8 billion, with lease-adjusted leverage at 1.1 times.

We completed a $1.4 billion bond offering this quarter, substantially addressing our 2027 maturities ahead of schedule and extending average headquarters debt maturity beyond four years. With that, I'll hand the call back to Kaan.

Thank you, Burak. Let me return to capital allocation. Since August 24, we have bought back $183 million of shares. We delivered exactly what we said we would. Now we are institutionalizing that discipline. Beginning this year, we will cancel at least $100 million of shares annually. Returning capital to shareholders is now part of our long-term financial framework. We are seeing strong execution. Digital is scaling faster than expected. Cash generation continues to strengthen, and as a result, we are increasing our guidance. Revenue growth is now expected to be 15%-18%. EBITDA growth is now expected to be 9%-12%. Our capital expenditure outlook remains unchanged. These revisions reflect confidence in the underlying strength of our business. Looking ahead, please join us at our Capital Markets Day in N.Y. on November 16th.