North-West Telecom has summed up the its business results for the 1st half of 2006 according to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The interim consolidated accounts are unaudited and presented in the scope of a balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and notes to the accounts. These accounts do not contain all the disclosures required by IFRS, however its scope is sufficient to get an impression of the financial standing and business results of JSC North-West Telecom in the six months of 2006.*

As per IFRS, the core activity receipts were RUR 9 830 mln. in the first half of 2006, while the costs were RUR 8 014 mln.

The highest growth was recorded for receipts from services to communication operators. By the results of the 1st half of 2006, they went up more than fourfold to make RUR 2 266 million.

The increased earnings from this service is primarily related to liberalization of the telecommunications market and changes in relations between the communication operators.

Also, noticeable growth was observed for new services and data transmission services: compared to the similar period of the last year, they grew by 44.3% to reach RUR 881.1 million. The increase in the earnings from new services is attributable to the company’s successful actions on the new services market such as launching of the Internet broadband service under the @vangard trade name, and by strengthen efforts on B2B market. 

The net income for the 1st half of 2006 was RUR 1 031 million according to IFRS (1st half of 2005 – RUR 1 026 mln.).

The EBITDA for the 1st half of 2006 was RUR 3 493 million – a 20% increase against the 1st half of the previous year, while the EBITDA margin grew by 6.1 points against the similar period of the last year, reaching 35.5%.

“The improved business efficiency of North-West Telecom is an effect of the company restructuring in 2005, of revised marketing and investment priorities of the company, and of its enhanced customer facing.”, - noted Vladimir Akulich, Chief Executive officer of JSC North-West Telecom

The complete text of the unaudited consolidated accounts of JSC North-West Telecom in the six months of 2006 according to IAS is presented on the company's site in the Economy and Finance section.

*Due to the fixed assets valuation by an independent assessor in the end of 2005, the comparative data of the Profit and Loss Statement in the “6 months 2005” column for such items as “Amortization and Depreciation”, “Fixed Asset Withdrawal Losses”, “Other Operating Costs”, “Interest Costs”, and “Profit Tax” are incomparable to the data for 6 months of 2006.