News
Altice reports strong growth in full-year adjusted EBITDA, driven by its operations in France, the U.S. and Portugal.
Altice’s French unit drove an earnings hike at group level last year as well as being largely responsible for a small decline in revenues, but the telco is still losing customers, albeit at a lower rate than in previous reporting periods.
SFR, which merged with cable operator Numericable last year, posted a 20.2% increase in adjusted EBITDA in full-year 2015 to €3.86 billion, while revenues slipped by 3.5% to €11.04 billion.
The telco’s mobile customer base fell by over 1 million during the year to reach 15.14 million by end-December. However, in the fourth quarter it recorded 54,000 net mobile customer additions, having lost 158,000 in the previous quarter and 799,000 in the year-ago quarter. On the fixed side, Numericable-SFR’s fibre and DSL customer base declined by 6,000.
The French business accounts for just under two third’s of Altice’s turnover and 58% of earnings. Altice reported a 0.1% slip in revenues to €17.5 billion "as growth in [the] U.S. and exchange rate tailwinds offset declines in France and Portugal." On a constant currency basis its turnover declined by 3.2%.
Group adjusted EBITDA increased by 17.6% to €6.67 billion as a result of the aforementioned growth in France, but also on the back of a 29.3% increase in the U.S. and 3.6% growth in Portugal.
Altice completed its acquisition of a 70% stake in U.S.-based Suddenlink in December. It expects to add Cablevision to the group in the second quarter of 2016, pending the outcome of an ongoing regulatory review.
The firm generated revenues of €2.35 billion in Portugal last year, down 7.3%, following its acquisition of the domestic Portugal Telecom business. The numbers include Portugal Telecom only, excluding Cabovisao and ONI, which were offloaded by Altice in January 2016. EBITDA came in at €967.3 million.
"We end 2015 delivering the best quarterly KPIs since our IPO with all major operations seeing significant improvements as a result of operational focus, integration and investments," said Altice CEO Dexter Goei.
"We have strengthened our management team and during 2016 we will continue to be very focused on further improving operational and financial performance, integrating the businesses we have acquired and pursuing the efficiency targets we have set out," he added.
In its 2016 guidance, Altice said it expects an improving revenue trend, mid-single-digit growth in EBITDA and flat to slightly down operating free cash flow, due to accelerated investments.
