Dear shareholders,
The key decision of 2024 for us was a fundamental change in the business configuration of the MTS Group — the transformation of existing business lines into separate legal entities. We have been moving towards it for several years, forming strong ecosystem businesses with powerful mutual synergies with our key telecommunications vertical. Our strategic approach to changing the corporate structure has the following objectives:
- improving the independence and operational efficiency of each vertical;
- increasing the transparency of activities and the possibility of an objective assessment of the results of each area of work;
- ensuring better control over the Group’s investment and debt burden;
- diversification of methods and tools for raising external financing;
- uncovering the investment potential of the formed verticals to increase the total shareholder value of the Group.
At the moment, we have formed a set of business lines and assets that meet our expectations regarding scale, growth dynamics and market prospects, and emphasized the asset outlines of each of the business units: Telecom, Fintech, MTS Media, MTS AdTech, and MWS technology company. At the same time, we decided to abandon high-risk acquisitions and investment in areas that, given the current difficult market conditions, will not bring significant financial results in the near future. Thereby, we will fully focus on the strategic development of the selected verticals, in the short term considering new opportunities for their consolidation through new acquisitions. I am convinced that all of our business units will demonstrate long-term growth with an already established asset portfolio, even in the current environment. By the end of the year, our revenues are growing at double-digit rates, and we will continue to strive to improve the operational efficiency of all our businesses.
We are paying increased attention to debt servicing issues, and we have implemented measures that will ensure control of the debt burden, despite maintaining an unprecedentedly high key interest rate. The current ratio of net debt to OIBDA is stable throughout 2024, and will not grow — this is one of the priorities for MTS management. Last year, we fixed a dividend policy until the end of 2026, which assumes payments of at least 35 rubles per share. To this day, MTS remains a company whose goals include increasing shareholder value and strictly following its obligations to shareholders. I have no doubt that these values will remain in the future.
In recent years, when I was the head of the Company, we aimed to connect various ecosystem services with a single customer experience, make them convenient for customers, and involve all kinds of audiences in the MTS ecosystem. I can say that we have managed to achieve good results, and I wish my colleagues not to stop there. Over the past year, the number of our ecosystem customers has grown by 16%, to 17.5 million, and it will only grow in the future.
MTS confidently looks to the future with strong digital directions based on the telecommunications business, which is confirmed by decent results in key operational indicators. Telecom remains our main focus, but the key growth drivers are now non-telecom assets, which generate more than 40% of the group’s revenue, which is the result of extensive and well-coordinated teamwork. Yes, we made mistakes, tried non-standard solutions, and did not always agree with each other, but I am convinced that the Company has chosen the right development vector.
I would like to conclude my message by thanking all MTS Group employees for their creativity, diligence, and commitment to achieving results, the management for their faith in visionary ideas, and numerous shareholders for their support even in the most difficult moments.
Yours sincerely,
Chairman of the Board of Directors of MTS