News
Cable group’s top line boosted by growth in Belgium, Germany, addition of Cable & Wireless.
Liberty Global late on Thursday reported an 11.1% rise in second-quarter revenue, thanks to a strong showing in Belgium and Germany, and the contribution of recently-acquired Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC).
In the three months to 30 June, the U.S.-based cable group generated revenue of $5.07 billion, up from $4.57 billion a year ago. Operating income fell to $487.8 million from $624.9 million on higher impairment and restructuring charges, and higher depreciation and amortisation costs.
In terms of its customer base, Liberty Global added 277,000 revenue-generating units (RGUs) in Q2, compared to 138,000 in the same period a year earlier. It ended the quarter with 59.31 million RGUs and 28.68 million individual subscribers. In the same period a year earlier, the company had 56.31 million RGUs and 27.37 million subscribers.
"Unitymedia in Germany added 109,000 RGUs, representing our best quarterly result in 18 months, while Virgin Media in the U.K. posted 66,000 RGU additions, our best Q2 performance in the U.K. in eight years," said Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries, in a statement.
The growth in the U.K. was fuelled by Virgin Media’s aggressive marketing campaign and its Project Lightning network infill scheme, Liberty Global said. In Germany, the growth was attributed to Unitymedia’s ‘Highspeed Weeks’ promotional activities, which drove uptake of high-speed broadband.
In Belgium, Telenet added 18,000 subscribers in Q2, a 25% year-on-year improvement, driven in part by the popularity of its new service bundles, called Wigo.
At the end of June, Liberty Global Group, the name of Liberty Global’s European business, served a total of 53.88 million RGUs, up from 52.85 million a year earlier, and 25.72 million customers, flat on Q2 2015.
The strong performance in Western Europe led by the above three markets saw revenue at Liberty Global Group increase to US$4.47 billion (€4.01 billion) from $4.26 billion a year earlier. Operating income fell to $508.7 million from $559 million on higher impairment, restructuring and one-off charges.
Liberty Global’s Latin American and Caribbean business, referred to as LiLAC, saw Q2 revenue jump to $603.1 million from $311.4 million a year ago, thanks to a $285.6 million contribution from CWC.
"As a result of the closing of the CWC acquisition on 16 May 2016, our total customers and RGUs increased by 1.3 million and 1.9 million, respectively," said Liberty Global.
The LiLAC business served 5.44 million RGUs at the end of June, up from 3.46 million a year earlier. Its subscriber base increased to 2.95 million from 1.65 million.
However, the inclusion of CWC also saw a surge in restructuring and impairment charges, and higher depreciation and amortization costs, resulting in the LiLAC arm swinging to a $20.9 million operating loss from a year earlier operating profit of $65.9 million.
