This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

Elisa Oyj Ord A
7/15/2026
Hello everyone and welcome to ELISA's Q2 2026 analyst conference call. I'm Vesa Sahivirta, Head of Investor Relations and here we have a very familiar team, CEO Topi Manner and CFO Kristian Pullola. We also follow the normal practice and we start with the presentation followed by the Q&A. Topi will go through the highlights of the report and Kristian will elaborate more on financials. And now we are ready to start, so I give word to Topi, please go ahead.
Thank you, Vesa, and welcome everybody to this ELISA Q2 earnings call. Let's go right down to the main points of our Q2. During Q2, revenue was effectively flat and comparable EBITDA was up by 1.4%, especially driven by successful execution of cost measures. We were still weighed down by last year's competition in terms of mobile service revenue, but that was partly offset by good progress in fixed service revenue, which grew 2.2%. The overall telecom service revenue decreased 0.7%. In international software services, the comparable organic revenue increased by 0.6%. This was largely due to the fact that customers were cautious in proceeding in their projects, given the geopolitical uncertainties and higher Eveliina Dahl, Eveliina Dahl, Eveliina Dahl, Eveliina Dahl, Eveliina Dahl, In comparable cash flow, the comparison quarter was exceptionally strong and during this quarter the cash flow was solid at 71 million euros, decreasing due to higher financial expenses and less favorable working capital development. We were happy to note that the post-pay churn normalized during the quarter, further decreasing from Q1 levels and landed at 16.7% in line with our long-term average for Q2 churn. In mobile postpaid subscriptions, we increased with 21,000, of which 15,000 subs were related to IoT and M2M. With these numbers, our market share in terms of mobile subs remained stable during the quarter as we wanted it to be. The fixed broadband subscription base is increasing nicely in this quarter with 3,500 subscriptions, and we do experience good demand, improving demand in terms of fiber business. As mentioned, our cost measures were successful during the quarter, indicating also clearly that our transformation program is proceeding according to plan. At the start of the year we moved to quarterly dividend and following that the board of directors now decided for the second installment of the dividend namely 60 cents and that will be paid to shareholders on the 29th of July. Looking into the revenue development, the revenue landed at 551 million euros. As stated, mobile services weighed down given the last year's competition. Also, divestment of Epic TV is something to note. and during the quarter we also ramped down and discontinued our public switched telephone network impacting the revenue a bit. Fixed services as stated and equipment sales were supporting the revenue growth during the quarter. We're happy to note that EBITDA margin improved during the quarter to 36.5% and the whole EBITDA landed at 201 million euros. This was driven by efficiency measures, the transformation program as stated, and then in part also by reduced sales and marketing cost. In terms of telecom service revenue, I already mentioned that we were weighed down by last year's competition in terms of mobile service revenue. It is important to note, though, that the mobile service revenue started to grow on a quarterly basis in comparing with Q1. It is also noteworthy that in Q2 last year we started the rollout of the so-called security features hard bundled with our mobile subs and we started that rollout with a large cohort of Backbook price changes and that was supporting the Q2 2025 comparison quarter in terms of mobile service revenue. In line with the quarterly growth in MSR, the RPU started to increase a bit during the quarter and landed at 24 euros. When we look at our mobile KPIs now, the key message is that they returned to normalized levels. In Q2 this year, the new sales prices actually continued to increase from Q1 and exceeded the level of Q2 last year. This was a positive development on the market. However, we need to note that on the market the share of fixed-term mobile contracts has increased significantly and that means that there is a longer time lag than previously in terms of the new sales prices moving to book. This means that, for example, if we acquire today A customer from our competitor. That customer might be moving into our book with a delay of three to four months depending on when the customer's fixed term contract ends with the previous service provider. This also means that the new sales prices impact the service revenue will come in with a delay and it will be more visible in Q4 in particular. Churn, as stated, decreased from Q1 levels and landed at 16.7%, which is a tad below our 10-year average of Q2 churn, which is 16.9%. Also the mobile sales and marketing costs including the voucher costs have been normalizing during the quarter and there was a bit of a decrease from Q1 levels. So all in all, good to see normalized levels in the mobile business in the forward-looking indicators. And in the past, with these levels, we have been able to deliver solid MSR growth. And as stated, that growth will follow with the time lag, assuming that the market stays on these normalized levels. When we look at our business segment by segment in consumer business the revenue was impacted by the divestment and the mentioned phenomenon in terms of mobile business. It was good to see support coming from fixed services and equipment sales and then the cost measures were successful in consumer business and the segment EBITDA improved with 2.1%, EBITDA margin hitting 43%. In corporate customers overall a very solid quarter revenue weighed down a bit by equipment sales and also the discontinuation of the PSTN network supported by fixed services and in digital services and in particular by high margin hybrid cloud services and data services which was encouraging to see. The cost management was successful in this segment and EBITDA improved with very solid 4.2% for that segment. In international software services in turn a more challenging quarter. Comparable revenue growth was 0.6%. Here we need to remember that Q2 is seasonally typically the weakest in ELISA industry business and overall in software industry. We did see some license deals being postponed to H2 during the quarter. However it is important to note that we did not lose any deals. Nevertheless with the new CEO Mikko Soirola we will be starting now specific measures to improve The profitability of Elisa industrial business, looking into sales, looking into boosting revenue, as well as capturing synergies on the cost side of things. In Estonia, in Estonian market, we saw solid progress, revenue increasing 3% on the back of mobile and fixed services, also some support from equipment sales. EBITDA increased by 13%, driven by the mentioned service revenue growth, and then also an accounting alignment increase. Internally in ELISA. So good work, solid progress in Estonia. We continue to be focused on implementing our strategy and now especially in terms of 5G and fiber. As stated in 5G and mobile services, we see normalized mobile indicators. Improving the outlook and with fiber business we are seeing good organic demand in fiber to the home as well as fiber to the building and then as a new category of fiber business the data center connectivity comes in offering longer term revenue support. I will come back to that in a minute. In international software services, as stated, we will be starting specific measures to boost the revenue, take home synergies to boost profitability. In simplicity and productivity, the cost measures have been successful. Transformation program is proceeding according to the plan. We will be staying focused to implementing our initiatives related to all of these focus areas. In mobile business, 5G penetration grew during this quarter more than normally during the quarter. This was on the back of a focused sales activity. So we should not expect this 5G penetration to increase at this rate on quarters to come. As stated, in fiber business we are seeing some good momentum. The fiber subscription base continues to grow. At the beginning of July we acquired in Lapland area in Finland a fiber network provider with some 8,000 customers, a Bolton acquisition in that space. And then related to the fiber to the building, we announced A customer win, a partner win from DNA, the largest rental housing company Lumo plc having 44 000 apartments in Finland chose us as their fiber to the building provider. So good to see that progress in the fiber business. Related to the overall fixed services during the quarter, we ramped down successfully our PSTN network. That network has been serving as well for 140 years. And now customers have been moving to new technologies. For our fixed service business, this also means that now The drag of decreasing PSTN revenue will cease to exist and with that we will be having a clean sheet for fixed service revenue growth going forward. This quarter marks the start of our large-scale data center connectivity business. During the quarter, we signed first large-scale data center connectivity deals. And when we talk about large-scale data centers, we talk about newly constructed above 100 megawatt data centers. On the overall, in Finland the data center market is growing. We see more and more projects materializing and the ultimate size of the market will depend on many variables. One of them is the overall AI super cycle development and the investments of especially the hyperscalers. Electricity availability and electricity costs will be impacting the investment levels and so will the regulatory environment. But it is very clear that Finland is an attractive place for data center operators. We have an optimal climate, seismically stable land, one of the most reliable and best electricity grids in the world, low electricity prices and very developed telecom infrastructure. And we as Elisa, we have clear competitive advantages in this market. We have a strongest and widest backbone network in Finland and to and from Finland. We are the market leader with excellent capabilities to build fiber connections on time. And timely delivery is really important for the data center operators. And then of course we also have a strong track record in operating networks efficiently and reliably. So clear strengths on this category of business. And then when we look at the data center connectivity business characteristics, the way that business is emerging, as stated, the market is emerging, but it holds significant future potential for us. At the same time, it is important to note that we are focusing on data center connectivity business, meaning the fiber connections to the data center potentially supplemented by optics in some cases. And that means that that connectivity bit is only a small part of the overall data center investments that the data center operators are looking at. Based on the deals that we have now signed and based on the deals that we are now in discussions of, we see attractive capital returns. And importantly, we see attractive cash flow characteristics. We think that this will represent a notable positive EPS impact to ELISA over time. But it is important to understand that this is a long-term business. When we enter into a deal, the construction periods vary. Smaller deals might involve a construction period of some months and the larger deals include a construction period up to 24 months. So a long-term business in nature. The capex needs that will arise from these deals will be handled outside of our 12% capex to sales envelope. But let me re-emphasize that what we see is that the cash flow characteristics of the business are attractive. Going forward we do not plan to disclose individual deals in this category of business. But as stated, an emerging business opportunity that has now reached an important milestone with first large-scale data center connectivity deals being signed during the quarter. Looking into other aspects of our business, in home services during the quarter we reached a new agreement with MTV, a Finnish commercial TV company, after lengthy negotiations which also included a blackout period for our customers. Nevertheless, it's now good to see that this agreement is in place. We will be deepening the collaboration with MTV over time, also developing our offering to customers together with MTV. When we go into the corporate space, we clearly see an increased need for security solutions. During the quarter, we entered into a pilot agreement with Finnish border guard and a drone company called Sensor Fusion. testing a drone monitoring and drone jamming solution, which is an important and intriguing entry to mission critical defense business related to drones. As stated, in international software business in ELISA industry, the revenue and profitability was below our expectations due to the delays that we saw on the market. It is important to note that the order intake developed positively. and the order backlog as such was strengthened. In this part of the business going forward during this calendar year, we now expect to see revenue growth in the range of 5 to 10 percent. And as mentioned, we will be doing these specific measures to improve profitability and secure and improving profitability from last year's levels. We also had a good customer win during the quarter in Spain, Marjorance. Big Telco chose our software solutions and that demonstrates the quality and the competitiveness of the solutions that we are having in the telco space. In terms of sustainability, Time Magazine and Stadista once again selected us to the list of 100 most sustainable companies in the world. This time around we ended up on the 61st place and this was indeed third time in a row demonstrating our long-term commitment to sustainability work. And then when we go into outlook and guidance, our guidance for this year remains unchanged. So revenue, we expect to be at the same level or slightly higher than in 2025. Comparable EBITDA we expect to be within the range of 815 million euros to 845 million euros, the midpoint there being 830 million euros. In terms of assumptions related to the guidance, we now expect the telecom service revenue to grow within the range of 0 to 2%. And please note that this is related to the outlook for calendar year of 26. We do see the mobile indicators normalizing and with those indicators in the past we have been delivering solid Mobile service revenue growth, but it comes in with a delay being especially visible in Q4. And the same postponement phenomenon is visible in ELISA industry. At the same time, the totality of this means that our cost measures are progressing well. and then what is noteworthy also is that the data center connectivity opportunity will offer long-term support for the telecom service revenue development. So with that I will hand over to Kristian to cover the rest of Q2. Thank you.
Thank you, Topi, and good day also from my behalf. In Q2, group revenue was essentially flat year on year at 551 million euros. Within that, we saw expected mixed effects. Mobile services, the Epic TV divestment, consumer digital services as well as the traditional fixed PSTN continue to weigh on the top line, while fixed services, equipment sales and energy software services supported revenue. Despite the slightly decline in revenue, comparable EBIT increased by €3 million to €201 million and the EBITDA margin improved to 36.5% from the 35.8% in last year. The main driver here was really the operating cost savings, which came both from the ongoing transformation program as well as from and Discipline Cost Controls more broadly. Comparable EPS increased from €2.59 from €0.57 and all in all we delivered solid profitability and better EBITDA margins even with the slight revenue decline. When it comes to the second half development, we did see positive development in the mobile indicators in Q2, as Topi discussed. However, as said, the financial impact will be coming in with a lag and will be especially visible only in Q4. This will have an impact on the normal seasonality that we have seen over the years. Where Q3 EBITDA has been stronger than Q4, this is not going to be expected this year. Q4 is expected to be stronger this year. CapEx for the quarter was 72 million, down from 76 million last year. The allocation was very consistent with our strategy. Main investment areas remaining 5G coverage expansion, fiber build-out and IT systems that support simplification, customer experience and productivity. Some part of the fiber capex was implemented through the JV that we established last year. You might recall from Q1 that we emphasized strict CapEx discipline and focus on technology leadership. That approach continues. We are investing where we see clear long-term value and attractive returns while avoiding discretionary and low return spend, especially lowering CapEx for older technologies and older systems. All in all, we are maintaining disciplined investment levels while funding infrastructure and IT that underpin the future growth. Comparable cash flow in Q2 was solid at 71 million euros, down from an exceptionally strong 130 million euros in the prior year quarter, which represents a 37% decline. There are three main drivers behind this. First, lower capex compared to last year was a positive for cash flow. Second, higher paid interest costs weighed on cash flow, reflecting both higher interest rate environment as well as the fact that we this year paid a larger portion of the whole year interest costs in Q2. And then thirdly, and most importantly, networking capital development was less favorable than in Q2 2025. and that quarter benefited from very strong positive networking capital movements especially on payables. In Q1, we highlighted that net working capital had developed positively for five consecutive quarters. In Q2, we saw flat development. We continue to focus on working capital efficiency and managing interest costs to support cash flow in the second half and beyond. All in all, solid cash conversion in a tougher comparison quarter, with room to improve in working capital and a normalized cash interest impact going forward. Our capital structure remains efficient and clearly within our target ranges. Net debt at the end of the quarter was slightly down from the year end. Net debt to comparable EBITDA was at 1.8 times which is well inside our target range of one and a half to two times. Equity ratio was 39.1 percent above our minimum target of 35. We have a well-balanced maturity profile with bonds, loans and undrawn revolving credit facilities As indicated earlier this year, we are focusing on proactively refinancing our 27 maturities to maintain cost efficient and diversified funding. Both S&P and Moody's reconfirmed our strong investment grade ratings during Q2. Return ratios remain at good levels. Return on equity and return on invested capital are both running in the high teens, consistent with our ambition to deliver industry-leading returns through strict capex discipline and strong focus on cash flow. All in all, Elisa's balance sheet is strong, our leverage is comfortable within targets, and we are well positioned to continue investing in growth, paying dividends, and maintaining solid returns to shareholders. With that, I hand back the call to Vesa for Q&A.
You're reading a preview of the ELMUF Q2 2026 earnings call.
Free account.