Video subs sink in Liberty Global Q2
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Editor
| 08 August 2019

As the dust settles on its recent M&A activity, media giant Liberty Global has reported a challenging second quarter of 2019.

For the three-month period ended 30 June 2019, the company posted rebased revenue of $2.850 billion, a year-on-year fall of 0.9% with quarterly re cable revenue falling 0.4% annually to $1.9 billion. Operating income plummeted 43.7% compared with the end of Q2 2018 to $148.7 million.

Even though the company completed 165,000 new premises during Q2, including 130,000 new premises in the UK & Ireland through the activities of subsidiary Virgin Media, Liberty Global saw subscribers fall by 28,800 in the quarter. The video segment saw particular pain for the company. At end of the second quarter Liberty saw its video business lose 54,900 net customers, compared with 7,700 losses a year ago. This meant that for the half year to date Liberty Global has shed 115,400 net customers, compared with 52,900 a year earlier.

Despite the setbacks, Liberty Global struck an air of optimism about the Q2 results which occurred in a period when it completed the sale of its operations in Germany, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic to Vodafone Group.

CEO Mike Fries said: “Earlier this year we laid out our strategic and operating priorities for 2019, and I’m pleased to report that we are making substantial progress across the board. We are also focused on enhancing the strategic and financial value of our core operating businesses, particularly Virgin Media which remains the most advanced broadband and fixed/mobile provider in the UK with substantial opportunities for expansion and growth.”