Press release
November 27, 2009. Standard & Poor’s rating agency has released a report according to which the long-term international credit rating of North-West Telecom is confirmed at BB- with a Stable outlook. The national scale rating was reaffirmed at the previous level of ruAA-.
The agency’s analysts pointed out that the following factors had a positive rating on the rating:
- NWT’s market positions in the local voice telephony and broadband Internet segments;
- Higher business efficiency shown by the company;
- High operating indicators;
- Moderate level of long-term leverage;
- Sufficiently high liquidity level.
According to experts, positive events in the business activity of North-West Telecom include further improvement of the company’s revenue breakdown, higher business efficiency thanks to an increase in the number of broadband Internet users and strict cost control. As a result, for a long time, NWT has managed to maintain EBITDA higher than 40%, which makes the company one of the most profitable regional wireline operators in Russia.
Analysts believe that conducting a sound financial policy over a long period of time has allowed the company to overcome a period of uncertainty on the financial market without raising its credit risks. In H109, NWT had a debt/EBITD ratio equal to 1.8x. Going forward, thanks to a moderate investment program and the ability to pay off part of its long-term liabilities using in-house cash flows, the operator’s leverage is set to decrease.
For more detailed information, please see Standard & Poor’s website at www.standardandpoors.ru.
