Altice Europe N.V. Second Quarter 2019 Pro Forma1 Results

All silos Growing YoY, including France Residential

Revenues +3.8%, EBITDA +10% and OpFCF +18%2

FY 2019 Guidance Increased

AMSTERDAM–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Regulatory News:

Altice Europe N.V. (AEX:ATC) (AEX:ATCB), today announces financial and operating results for the quarter ended June 30, 2019.

Patrick Drahi, Altice Europe founder: “The turnaround of Altice Europe is more and more evident with another key milestone in Q2 2019: residential revenue as well as total revenue in France is back to growth. Consistent with Q1 2019 results, we demonstrate in Q2 2019 our capacity to benefit from decreasing churn and call centers volumes to generate significant savings. Altice France and Altice International are accelerating their revenue growth, with stronger EBITDA growth, paving the way for an acceleration of the deleveraging, already noticeable. This successful operational turnaround allows us to increase our full year guidance.”

Altice Europe Q2 2019 Key Financial Highlights

  • Revenue grew by +3.8% YoY (+3.3% YoY on a constant currency (CC) basis) vs. -0.1% YoY in Q1 2019.
  • Adjusted EBITDAgrew by +9.8% YoY (+9.3% YoY on a CC basis) vs. +4.1% YoY in Q1 2019. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 39.9% in Q2 2019 (+2.2pts YoY).
  • Significant investments were made in networks, customer premise equipment and innovative new services, with total accrued capital expenditure for Altice Europe of €756 million in Q2 2019, relatively stable YoY.
  • Consequently, Operating Cash Flow grew +18.4 YoY2 in Q2 2019.

Altice Europe Q2 2019 Key Operational Highlights

  • Altice France achieved another good level of customer acquisition in the second quarter in a market with fewer promotions, while continuing to focus on and significantly reduce churn in both fixed and mobile. As expected and consistent with FY 2019 guidance, Altice France benefitted in Q2 2019 from an improved revenue trend, both in residential and business services, as well as lower costs, underpinned by better quality of services and lower churn (-20% YoY in Q2 2019).

    • Residential fixed base grew by +31k customers, with +64k fibre customers. SFR has now 43% of its total fixed subscriber base on fibre.
    • Residential mobile postpaid base grew by +105k customers, supported by the best 4G+ network in 2018 (according to nPerf survey).
    • Altice France reported positive revenue growth of +4.0% YoY without any reduced VAT benefit (vs. -1.2% YoY in Q1 2019). Altice France reported a significantly improved Adjusted EBITDA trend in Q2 2019 of +10.1% YoY (vs. +4.6% YoY in Q1 2019).
  • In Portugal, the Group again achieved a solid level of customer acquisition in the second quarter, driving revenue growth, with careful cost control resulting in an improved Adjusted EBITDA trend.

    • The residential fixed base grew by +1k customers, while fixed and mobile churn has stabilized at the lowest level ever, alongside ARPU stabilization (churn below 8% in fibre and below 9% in mobile postpaid in Q2 2019). Fibre customer net additions were +35k, supported by the expansion of fibre coverage. Mobile postpaid net additions were +31k.
    • Thanks to its continued network investments and successful convergent strategy, MEO reported an improved revenue trend in Q2 2019 with +1.1% YoY (vs. +0.4% in Q1 2019), driven by positive mix effect (migration from prepaid to postpaid and to convergent offers). A tight control of the cost base paved the way to an improved Adjusted EBITDA trend of +0.4% YoY in Q2 2019 (vs. -1.4% YoY in Q1 2019).
  • Altice International revenue grew by +3.6% YoY (vs. +2.0% in Q1 2019), notably driven by Teads which grew by +40% in Q2 2019.

Capital Structure Key Highlights

  • Total consolidated Altice Europe net debt was €30.1 billion at the end of Q2 2019.
  • Altice Europe received strong support from the debt capital markets during the Altice Luxembourg refinancing transaction in May 2019. Altice Luxembourg 2022 Notes and Altice France 2024 Notes partial repayment was effective early June. This refinancing demonstrated Altice Europe’s commitment to proactively manage its liabilities across its capital structure, significantly improve its maturity schedule, reduce its gross leverage and move closer to its leverage target while reducing its annual cash interest cost.

FY 2019 Guidance Increased

  • For the full year 2019, Altice Europe expects:

    • Operating free cash flow growth in the area of 15% YoY, excluding the Altice TV segment (in the area of 10% YoY previously).
    • Altice France revenue growth within a range of 5% to 6% (3 to 5% previously).
    • Altice France Adjusted EBITDA within a range of €4.1 billion to €4.2 billion (€4.0 to 4.1 billion previously).
  • Altice Europe targets a leverage of 4.25x net debt to Adjusted EBITDA within 20 months for the telecom perimeter (Altice Luxembourg), as announced on March 28, 2019.

Other Significant Events

  • On May 18, 2018, the General Meeting of Altice Europe granted the authority to the Board to cancel any shares in the share capital of the company held or to be held by the company. On April 26, 2019, the Board of Altice Europe resolved to cancel 685,000,000 common shares A held by the Company. The cancellation of such shares became effective on June 28, 2019.
  • On July 18, 2019, Altice France unveiled its new set-top box SFR Box 8, designed and produced by Altice Labs. France will be the first country in which Altice markets the box, to be launched on August 20, 2019. Altice France launches the only box on the French market to be equipped with the latest generation WiFi (WiFi 6) along with cinema-like sound and image standard (boasting 4K HDR with Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®). The box incorporates all the new features users expect such as the voice assistant and an innovative multi-screen interface bringing an unprecedented experience into the home. The box will be available for the whole range of fixed offers, as an option, in DSL, FTTB and FTTH. Coupled with the power of the Altice France network, the first high-speed broadband infrastructure in the country with more than 13 million eligible connections, the SFR Box 8 will offer an unrivalled Internet experience.
  • On July 30, 2019, Altice Europe closed the sale of 51% of Groupe L’Express to Alain Weill.

Conference call details

The company will host a conference call and webcast today, Wednesday 31st of July 2019 at 6:00pm CEST (5:00pm BST, 12:00pm EDT)

Dial-in Access telephone numbers:

Participant Toll Free Dial-In Number: +1 (866) 393-4306

Participant International Dial-In Number: +1 (734) 385-2616

Conference ID: 1529996

A live webcast of the presentation will be available on the following website:

https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/2017272/E1FB5672B40C37C330134D5DB37E6BCB

The presentation for the conference call will be made available prior to the call on our investor relations website:

http://altice.net/investor-relations

About Altice Europe

Altice Europe (ATC & ATCB), listed on Euronext Amsterdam, is a convergent leader in telecoms, content, media, entertainment and advertising. Altice delivers innovative, customer-centric products and solutions that connect and unlock the limitless potential of its over 30 million customers over fibre networks and mobile broadband. Altice is also a provider of enterprise digital solutions to millions of business customers. Altice innovates with technology, research and development and enables people to live out their passions by providing original content, high-quality and compelling TV shows, and international, national and local news channels. Altice delivers live broadcast premium sports events and enables its customers to enjoy the most well-known media and entertainment.

Financial Presentation

Altice Europe N.V. (Altice Europe or the “Company”) was created as a result of a cross-border merger with Altice S.A. as per a board resolution dated August 9, 2015. Altice Europe’s shares started trading on Euronext Amsterdam from August 10, 2015 onwards. Altice Europe is considered to be the successor entity of Altice S.A. and thus inherits the continuity of Altice S.A.’s consolidated business. Altice Europe and its subsidiaries have operated for several years and have from time to time made significant equity investments in a number of cable and telecommunication businesses in various jurisdictions. Therefore, in order to facilitate an understanding of the Company’s results of operations, we have presented and discussed the pro-forma consolidated financial information of the Company – giving effect to each such significant acquisition and disposal as if such acquisitions and disposals had occurred by January 1, 2018; as if the spin-off of Altice USA had occurred on January 1, 2018, for the quarters ended June 30, 2018 and June 30, 2019 (the “Pro Forma Financial Information”). In addition, financials for Altice Europe exclude the international wholesale voice business (following closing announced on September 13, 2018) and press magazines disposed (following closing of Point de Vue on July 2, 2018 and Groupe L’Express on July 30, 2019) for the quarters ended June 30, 2018 and June 30, 2019. Financials shown are pro forma for the tower transaction in Portugal (following closing announced on September 4, 2018) and the tower transaction in the Dominican Republic (following closing announced on October 3, 2018) from January 1, 2018.

This press release contains measures and ratios (the “Non-GAAP measures”), including Adjusted EBITDA, Capital Expenditure (“Capex”) and Operating Free Cash Flow, that are not required by, or presented in accordance with, IFRS or any other generally accepted accounting standards. We present Non-GAAP measures because we believe that they are of interest to the investors and similar measures are widely used by certain investors, securities analysts and other interested parties as supplemental measures of performance and liquidity. The Non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies or have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our, or any of our subsidiaries’, operating results as reported under IFRS or other generally accepted accounting standards. Non-GAAP measures such as Adjusted EBITDA are not measurements of our, or any of our subsidiaries’, performance or liquidity under IFRS or any other generally accepted accounting principles, including U.S. GAAP. In particular, you should not consider Adjusted EBITDA as an alternative to (a) operating profit or profit for the period (as determined in accordance with IFRS) as a measure of our, or any of our operating entities’, operating performance, (b) cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities as a measure of our, or any of our subsidiaries’, ability to meet its cash needs or (c) any other measures of performance under IFRS or other generally accepted accounting standards. In addition, these measures may also be defined and calculated differently than the corresponding or similar terms under the terms governing our existing debt.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as operating income before depreciation and amortization, other expenses and income (capital gains, non-recurring litigation, restructuring costs) and share-based expenses and after operating lease expenses. This may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other entities. Further, this measure should not be considered as an alternative for operating income as the effects of depreciation, amortization and impairment excluded from this measure do ultimately affect the operating results, which is also presented within the annual consolidated financial statements in accordance with IAS 1 – Presentation of Financial Statements.

Capital expenditure (Capex), while measured in accordance with IFRS principles, is not a term that is defined in IFRS nor is it presented separately in the financial statements. However, Altice Europe’s management believe it is an important indicator for the Group as the profile varies greatly between activities:

  • The fixed business has fixed Capex requirements that are mainly discretionary (network, platforms, general), and variable capex requirements related to the connection of new customers and the purchase of Customer Premise Equipment (TV decoder, modem, etc.).
  • Mobile Capex is mainly driven by investment in new mobile sites, upgrade to new mobile technology and licenses to operate; once engaged and operational, there are limited further Capex requirements.
  • Other Capex: Mainly related to costs incurred in acquiring content rights.

Operating free cash flow (OpFCF) is defined as Adjusted EBITDA less Capex. This may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other entities. Further, this measure should not be considered as an alternative for operating cash flow as presented in the consolidated statement of cash flows in accordance with IAS 1 – Presentation of Financial Statements. It is simply a calculation of the two above mentioned non-GAAP measures.

Adjusted EBITDA and similar measures are used by different companies for differing purposes and are often calculated in ways that reflect the circumstances of those companies. You should exercise caution in comparing Adjusted EBITDA as reported by us to Adjusted EBITDA of other companies. Adjusted EBITDA as presented herein differs from the definition of “Consolidated Combined Adjusted EBITDA” for purposes of any of the indebtedness of the Group. The financial information presented in this press release including but not limited to the quarterly financial information, pro forma financial information as well as Adjusted EBITDA and OpFCF is unaudited. In addition, the presentation of these measures is not intended to and does not comply with the reporting requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and will not be subject to review by the SEC; compliance with its requirements would require us to make changes to the presentation of this information.

Financial and Statistical Information and Comparisons

Financial and statistical information is for the quarter ended June 30, 2019, unless otherwise stated, and any year over year comparisons are for the quarter ended June 30, 2018.

Regulated Information

This press release contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.

Altice Europe Summary Financials Pro Forma Information

 

Altice Europe – Quarter ended June 30, 2019

In EUR million

Altice

France

Portugal

Israel

Dominican

Republic

Teads

Others

Altice

TV

Corporate

& Other

Eliminations

Altice Europe

Consolidated

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Residential – Fixed

617.6

154.1

135.1

26.0

0.0

932.8

Residential – Mobile

1,050.8

137.5

66.2

88.1

1,342.5

Business services

817.2

230.1

33.7

26.5

0.2

1,107.7

Media

112.4

116.3

56.6

285.3

Standalone Revenue

2,598.1

521.6

235.0

140.5

116.3

0.2

56.6

0.0

3,668.3

Eliminations

-19.5

-17.6

-0.1

-0.3

-0.6

-38.3

-0.0

-76.4

Consolidated Revenue

2,578.5

504.1

234.9

140.3

115.6

0.2

18.3

3,591.9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adjusted EBITDA

1,075.6

213.3

90.0

69.9

19.6

0.1

-23.2

-8.6

-2.9

1,433.9

Margin (%)

41.4%

40.9%

38.3%

49.7%

16.9%

nm

nm

nm

nm

39.9%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accrued Capex

565.6

95.9

60.0

31.2

1.5

4.3

-2.8

755.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adjusted EBITDA

– Accrued Capex

510.0

117.4

30.0

38.7

18.2

0.1

-27.5

-8.6

-0.1

678.2

 

Altice Europe – Quarter ended June 30, 2018

In EUR million

Altice

France

Portugal

Israel

Dominican

Republic

Teads

Others

Altice

TV

Corporate

& Other

Eliminations

Altice Europe

Consolidated

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Residential – Fixed

635.0

153.6

149.0

25.3

962.9

Residential – Mobile

1,029.1

140.4

61.7

89.3

1,320.6

Business services

730.9

222.0

30.5

23.2

0.2

2.4

1,009.3

Media

102.4

83.2

19.7

205.4

Standalone Revenue

2,497.4

516.1

241.2

137.9

83.2

0.2

19.7

2.4

3,498.1

Eliminations

-10.0

-13.1

-0.2

-0.1

0.1

-15.6

0.6

-38.2

Consolidated Revenue

2,487.4

503.0

241.0

137.7

83.3

0.2

4.1

3.0

3,459.9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adjusted EBITDA

976.6

212.4

105.0

74.7

10.4

-0.0

-62.3

-8.4

-2.8

1,305.5

Margin (%)

39.1%

41.2%

43.5%

54.2%

12.5%

nm

nm

nm

nm

37.7%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accrued Capex

576.0

106.3

60.6

29.1

1.2

0.0

773.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adjusted EBITDA

– Accrued Capex

400.6

106.1

44.4

45.7

10.4

-0.0

-63.5

-8.4

-2.9

532.4

Notes to Summary Financials

  1. Financials shown in these tables are pro forma defined as results of Altice Europe new perimeter as if the spin-off of Altice USA had occurred on 1/1/18. Altice USA considered as third-party and not included in group eliminations from 1/1/18. Segments are shown on a pro forma standalone reporting basis and Group figures are shown on a pro forma consolidated basis. In addition, financials for Altice Europe exclude the international wholesale voice business (following closing announced on September 13, 2018) and press magazines disposed (following closing of Point de Vue on July 2, 2018 and Groupe L’Express on July 30, 2019) from 1/1/18. Financials shown are pro forma for the tower transaction in Portugal (following closing announced on September 4, 2018) and the tower transaction in the Dominican Republic (following closing announced on October 3, 2018) from 1/1/18
  2. “Other” segment within Altice International includes datacentre operations in France (Auberimmo)
  3. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as operating income before depreciation and amortization, other expenses and income (capital gains, non-recurring litigation, restructuring costs) and share-based expenses and after operating lease expenses
  4. Teads gross revenues are presented before discounts (net revenues after discounts are recognised in the financial statements)

     

Altice Europe KPIs

 

Altice Europe – Quarter ended June 30, 2019

 

 

 

 

 

000’s unless stated otherwise

Altice

France

Portugal

Israel

Dominican

Republic

Total

Fibre homes passed

13,506

4,712

2,146

759

21,123

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIXED B2C

 

 

 

 

 

Fibre / cable unique customers

2,701

879

999

191

4,770

Net adds

64

35

6

-1

104

Total fixed B2C unique customers

6,271

1,586

999

326

9,148

Net adds

31

1

6

1

32

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOBILE B2C

 

 

 

 

 

Postpaid subscribers

13,970

3,023

1,152

593

18,739

Net adds

105

31

5

14

156

Prepaid subscribers

1,473

3,304

173

2,348

7,298

Total mobile B2C subscribers

15,444

6,327

1,326

2,941

26,037

 

Altice Europe – Quarter ended June 30, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

000’s unless stated otherwise

Altice

France

Portugal

Israel

Dominican

Republic

Total

Fibre homes passed

11,722

4,284

2,104

752

18,862

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIXED B2C

 

 

 

 

 

Fibre / cable unique customers

2,442

714

1,001

198

4,355

Net adds

56

46

0

-2

99

Total fixed B2C unique customers

6,109

1,565

1,001

324

9,000

Net adds

13

6

0

2

20

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOBILE B2C

 

 

 

 

 

Postpaid subscribers

13,164

2,890

1,144

539

17,736

Net adds

220

38

-15

8

251

Prepaid subscribers

1,618

3,492

156

2,637

7,904

Total mobile B2C subscribers

14,782

6,382

1,300

3,176

25,639

Notes to KPIs tables

  1. Portugal fibre homes passed figures include homes where MEO has access through wholesale fibre operators (c.0.4 million in Q2 2019)
  2. Fibre / cable unique customers represents the number of individual end users who have subscribed for one or more of our fibre / cable based services (including pay television, broadband or telephony), without regard to how many services to which the end user subscribed. It is calculated on a unique premise basis. Fibre / cable customers for France excludes white-label wholesale subscribers. For Israel, it refers to the total number of unique customer relationships, including both B2C and B2B
  3. Mobile subscribers are equal to the net number of lines or SIM cards that have been activated on the Group’s mobile networks and excludes M2M. In Israel, the split between iDEN and UMTS (B2C only, including prepaid) services is as follows: 4k iDEN and 1,321k UMTS as of June 30, 2019, and 7k iDEN and 1,294k UMTS as of June 30, 2018
  4. The tables above exclude Altice USA’s key operating measures. As a result, the totals are presented as if the separation of Altice USA had occurred on January 1, 2018

Altice Europe Financial and Operational Review by Segment – Pro Forma3

For the quarter ended June 30, 2019 compared to the quarter ended June 30, 2018

France (Altice France including SFR)

SFR continued to invest in its proprietary infrastructure to further improve customer satisfaction and enhance its position in the fast-growing fibre wholesale market. SFR remains the number one high-speed broadband infrastructure in France4, with more than 13.5 million homes passed5 at the end of Q2 2019: a significant increase in Q2 2019 of 538,000 fibre homes passed in France. More than 3,200 towns enjoy speeds of up to 1 Gbps.

The largest alternative FTTH infrastructure wholesale operator in France, SFR FTTH, has more than 5 million homes to be passed with scope for more homes to be franchised or acquired: an additional 500,000 homes have been awarded with exclusive FTTH deployments in H1 2019.

On the mobile side, SFR covered 98.7% of the population with 4G at the end of Q2 2019, with 40,6136 of 4G mobile antennas in service in France. SFR reached its target of 90% population coverage in very low-dense areas, three years in advance. SFR delivers higher 4G data rates, thereby improving customer experience (aggregation of 4 carriers allowing 4G+ at 300/500 Mbps and now 1 Gbps in Q2 2019). SFR is pleased to have the best 4G+ network coverage in 2018, according to the nPerf survey (more than 1 billion measures per annum). This increase in speed makes it possible to support the transition to 5G, something which the Group continues to work towards actively.

The operational turnaround and sustained customer growth have been underpinned by churn reduction and NPS improvements (Net Promoter Score), leading to an inflection in revenue growth and lower costs in Q2 2019 to continue in the quarter coming. The turnaround is supported by significant improvements in 2018 in infrastructure and in technical service operations. This turnaround is also driven by the highest level of employee commitment since 2008 according to our latest Human Resource study.

Altice France continues to offer innovate products, with a new option in mobile launched in Q2 2019 to benefit from secondary device (smartwatch) through eSIM. This allows mobile customers to enjoy 4G network, even far away from smartphone, typically during sport sessions.

The following subscriber KPIs are based on the current reporting perimeter for Altice France (including FOT):

  • Total Altice France revenue increased by +4.0% YoY in Q2 2019 to €2,598 million without any reduced VAT benefit, reflecting the impact of positive net adds and less pronounced ARPU effect.
  • Residential revenues reached a key milestone, by returning to growth in Q2 2019 with +0.3% YoY (vs. -4.4% YoY in Q1 2019 ex VAT benefit)), as a result of customer adds with a clear moderation of ARPU decline. Our strategy to get a fair share of net adds while following tactically some peer promotion was consistent with residential segment being back to growth.
  • The residential fixed base in France grew again with +31k unique customer net additions in Q2 2019 (vs. +13k net additions in Q2 2018):
  • Fibre net additions reached +64k in Q2 2019 (vs. +56k in Q2 2018).
  • Residential fixed revenues decreased by -2.7% YoY in Q2 2019 (vs. -4.4% YoY in Q1 2019 ex-VAT benefit), impacted by prior customer adds with a moderation of ARPU decline. Altice France is expanding its addressable market for high-speed broadband services significantly in France which will help Altice France to retain and migrate a larger portion of its DSL base, as well as increase ARPU.
  • Mobile residential postpaid customer growth in France was again very strong this quarter:
  • The mobile residential postpaid customer base increased by +105k net additions in Q2 2019 (vs.

Contacts

Altice Europe

Head of Investor Relations Altice Europe

Vincent Maulay: +33 6 16 77 70 67 / vincent.maulay@altice.net

Head of Communications Altice Europe

Arthur Dreyfuss: +41 79 946 4931 / arthur.dreyfuss@altice.net

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