Liberty Global hits video headwinds in Q3
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Joseph O'Halloran
| 05 November 2020
In a quarter that the company said were “modestly impacted” by the Covid-19 pandemic, Liberty Global has reported a challenging third quarter of the year where broadband gains were accompanied by losses in video subscribers in its key divisions, particularly Virgin Media in the UK.
Liberty 4KminiTV 24Aug2020

Overall for the quarter ended 30 September 2020, Liberty posted revenues of $2.96 billion, an increase of 4.0% on a reported basis but 1.3% rebased. For the nine months of the year, the company has banked $ 8.553 billion, inching back 0.1% compared with the same time a year ago. The firm ended Q3 2020 with a loss from continuing operations of $973.6 million, increased 266% year-on-year while to adjusted EBITDA decreased 0.2% on a reported basis and 5.0% rebased to $1.21 billion.

Overall the company saw 36,500 organic customer additions in the quarter, compared with losing half this number in the same quarter of 2019. This represented the firm’s best quarterly performance since Q1 2017. In the year to date Liberty Global added 25,300 net subscribers, an increase of 152.3% year-on-year. For its enhanced video business, Liberty Global reported a net loss of 60,200 customers for a grand total of 7.321 million across its European subsidiaries.

Looking at individual business areas, Virgin Media in the UK and Republic of Ireland gained 37,000 customer relationships in Q3, as compared with a loss of 3,000 in Q3 2019, attributed to what Liberty said were superior broadband speeds and a continued focus on improving NPS resulted in lower churn which contributed to its best fixed-line customer gain since Q3 2017. However, in terms of enhanced video customers, Virgin lost 63,800 customers in the quarter to give a total of 3.526 million. Ireland added 7,700 enhanced video subs to total 303,900.

Commenting on the quarterly results, Liberty CEO Mike Fries recognised the way in which the Covid-19 pandemic had altered the people worked and lived, noting that the company’s fibre-rich networks continued to deliver “seamless” connectivity that was never more crucial. Yet he was confident that the firm would at the end of the year hit the targets that it had set before the pandemic outbreak.

“During the quarter we continued to see strong demand for our high-speed connectivity products, adding 37,000 new customer relationships and over 70,000 broadband subscribers, our best quarterly result in over three years," he said. "The combination of our market-leading broadband speeds, next-generation video platforms and attractive mobile offerings drove our performance. Despite continued uncertainty regarding the medium-term impact from Covid-19, we are reaffirming all of our original, full-year guidance metrics.”