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NIBs
June 2020 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
of the Tele2 consolidation due to the prevailing high level of uncertainty.
"The company plans to stick to its current dividend policy despite the coronavirus [COVID-19] pandemic," Sberbank CIB commented, seeing
the key focus in the announcement of the final dividend for 2019, which the board is scheduled
to approve in August.
O2 Czech Republic saw 2.6% y/y growth in net profit in 1Q20
The mobile operator O2 in the Czech Republic posted an increase in its net profit by 2.6% year-on-year to CZK1.27bn (€46mn) in 1Q20, the company announced.
The company reported a significant slowdown in its business, trading and operational activities and in the trade channels activity in connection with restrictions on the movement of the population during the state of emergency imposed due to the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Consolidated revenue grew by 3.7% y/y to CZK9.6bn in 1Q20. Consolidated Ebitda increased by 6.5% y/y to CZK3.1bn.
“Our successful strategy was confirmed by almost 12% y/y growth in Ebitda for 2M20. After the Czech government declared a state of emergency and adopted a number of extraordinary measures, Ebitda declined by 3.2% y/y in March,” said the deputy chairman of the board of directors and chief financial officer of O2 Czech Republic
Tomas Kouril.
“Nevertheless, I am optimistic about the future, as it is clear that a substantial part of the economy and people's lives are moving to the digital environment, in which we are a key actor,” said CEO and chairman of the board of O2 Czech Republic Jindrich Fremuth.
“At the same time, the crisis period has accelerated the digital transformation of O2 itself,
which will enable us to achieve higher efficiency in the coming period,” he added.
The total number of mobile registered customers amounted to 5.8mn at the end of March, with the number of contract customers reaching 3.3mn, the number of mobile prepaid customers 1.9mn, while the number of M2M SIMs stood at 658,000.
Russia gets closer to online pharma sales
The Russian government has provided a list of rules and licensing for the online sale of over the counter (OTC) medicines, bringing the development of online pharmaceuticals retailing closer.
As reported by bne IntelliNews, online sales of medicine could develop into a solid trend amid coronavirus (COVID-10).
Russia's largest traditional retailer and largest e-grocer X5 Group previously said online sales
of pharmaceutical goods are also on the agenda and, once the regulations have been clarified and restrictions lifted, the company is considering operations in the segment.
Apteka.ru online platform of large pharmaceutical distributor Katren already made it to the top ten of Russia's largest e-commerce players in 2019.
"The online sale of medicines had been discussed for over three years before finally being approved on 2 April 2020 (with the lockdown measures having speeded up that process)," VTB Capital (VTBC) commented on May 19.
The commercial pharmacy market was worth RUB1 trillion ($14.1bn) in 2019, equally split between the OTC and RX categories, the bank reminds, noting that the latter could also join
the broader online channel. "This initiative is
a new growth pillar for both pharmaceutical chains and food chains, which have been entering into pharma retail," VTBC believes.