Liberty Global claims ‘stable’ first quarter

[tokoroko]

Liberty Global claims ‘stable’ first quarter
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 11 May 2022
Despite what the company hailed as strong adjusted EBITDA growth in the UK, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and growing business in the fixed mobile convergence sector, media giant Liberty Global has reported a first quarter where overall revenues and EBITDA were down markedly compared with 2021.
Liberty 23Sep2021
For the three-month period ended 31 March 2022, Liberty Global generated total revenue of $1.853 billion, sinking 47% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. In addition, Q1 earnings from continuing operations decreased 24.4% YoY on a reported basis to $1.076 billion with Q1 Adjusted EBITDA decreasing 48.0% annually on a reported basis.
Stand out subsidiaries for the media firm in the quarter were Virgin Media O2, Sunrise UPC and VodafoneZiggo.The company said that overall it was “executing well” on commercial convergence strategies including price adjustments at Virgin Media O2, Telenet and VodafoneZiggo.

In the UK, Virgin Media O2 racked up Q1 revenues of $3.398.0 billion, broadly flat YoY on an FX neutral pro forma basis. Performance was said to have been supported by increased growth in mobile revenue, including a YoY increase in handset revenue. Consumer fixed revenue remained broadly flat YoY on an FX neutral pro forma basis, primarily as a result of a YoY increase in fixed-line customers that was offset by a YoY decline in fixed-line customer ARPU due to a change in customer mix. Adjusted EBITDA increased 24.8%8 YoY on an FX neutral pro forma basis to $1.395 billion, including $14 million of opex costs.

Virgin Media O2’s broadband base remained broadly flat with a 1,000 net reduction in Q1, while mobile post-paid continued to show net adds of 11,000 during the quarter. Average speed across the company's broadband base has increased 24% YoY and now reaches 231Mbps, 4x the UK average. Looking ahead, Liberty pointed to the launch of Stream for Virgin Media, a new IP-based entertainment service offering customers a new way of aggregating TV channels, video apps and streaming subscriptions, delivered through the company's broadband service. There are also continued investment in the UK's digital infrastructure continues through Project Lightning, completion of FTTP upgrade pilots and the extension of 5G services.

Commenting on the quarterly results, Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries said: “Operationally, we delivered 100,000 aggregate broadband and post-paid mobile subscribers during the quarter driven by our converged bundles, our market-leading broadband speeds and increasing 5G coverage. Demand for connectivity remains high across our European markets and, as noted above, we are seeing improved pricing power as inflation picks up, competition rationalises and the regulatory environment eases.”

[tokoroko]

Liberty Global Reports Q1 2022 Results
MAY 11, 2022 12.22 EUROPE/LONDON BY JULIAN CLOVER

Liberty Global has come through a flat first quarter with growth from its UK, Switzerland, and Netherlands businesses, brought about by new mobile and broadband customers.

“Demand for connectivity remains high across our European markets and we are seeing improved pricing power as inflation picks up, competition rationalizes and the regulatory environment eases,” said Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries, adding that the company was “largely hedged on energy costs” against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.

In the UK, Project Lightning delivered 101,000 new premises taking Virgin Media’s cumulative UK Lightning footprint to 2.8 million homes, it’s anticipated another 500,000 new premises will be added in 2022.

In Switzerland, where the competitive environment has softened slightly, there were 11,000 broadband net additions for Sunrise in Q1.

There was limited subscriber growth for Belgium’s Telenet, though the FMC customer base in Q1 2022 still increased through the success of the ONE Up bundles. There were 3,000 broadband net adds and 9,000 postpaid mobile net additions.

The arrival of Viaplay in the Dutch market and the resulting promotional activity increased competition and saw broadband RGUs decline by 17,000. Vodafone Ziggo still saw 37,000 mobile postpaid additions, passing the 5 million SIMs milestone.

Liberty Global’s Q1 revenue decreased 47.0% year-on-year on a reported basis and increased 1.5% on a rebased basis to $1,853.3 million.