Altice Europe N.V. First Quarter 2019 Pro Forma(1) Results

Strong Financial Performance in Q1 2019
France, Portugal
and International back to growth

All FY 2019 Guidance
Reiterated

AMSTERDAM–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Regulatory News:

May 9, 2019: Altice Europe N.V. (Euronext: ATC and ATCB), today
announces financial and operating results for the quarter ended March
31, 2019.

Patrick Drahi, Altice Europe founder, said: “The
turnaround of Altice Europe is materializing. Significant and continued
investments in networks, as well as the consistent improvements in
customer care, have led to a material reduction in churn rates, call
volumes and strong improvement in customer satisfaction. In Q1 2019,
Altice Europe started benefiting from this successful operational
turnaround achieved by the new management teams put in place 18 months
ago. Our two silos France and International are now growing for the
first time since the IPO and the Group is back to EBITDA growth paving
the way for an acceleration of the deleveraging. Altice Europe has
recently successfully extended the average maturity of its capital
structure through a refinancing of €2.8 billion generating annual cash
savings in excess of €110 million and highlighting the strong support
from the debt capital markets for our strategy”.

Altice Europe Q1 2019 Key Financial
Highlights

  • Altice Europe revenue grew by +0.5% YoY ex-VAT benefit2 on
    a constant currency (CC) basis or -0.4% YoY on a reported basis (vs.
    -1.7% YoY in Q4 2018 and -3.5% YoY in FY 2018 on a reported basis).
  • Altice Europe Adjusted EBITDA3 grew by +7.2% YoY ex-VAT
    benefit on a CC basis or +4.0% YoY on a reported basis (vs. -14.4% YoY
    in Q4 2018 and -9.7% YoY in FY 2018 on a reported basis). Adjusted
    EBITDA margin was 36.9% in Q1 2019 on a reported basis (+1.5pts YoY).
  • Altice Europe made significant investments in networks, customer
    premise equipment and innovative new services, with total accrued
    capital expenditure for Altice Europe of €771 million in Q1 2019,
    relatively stable YoY.

Altice Europe Q1 2019 Key Operational
Highlights

  • Altice France achieved a good level of customer acquisition in the
    first 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 Q1 2019 from an improved revenue trend as well as lower
    costs, underpinned by better quality of services and lower churn (-15%
    YoY in Q1 2019). The sale of a minority equity stake of 49.99% in our
    medium and low density ‘fibre to the home’ business, SFR FTTH, was
    successfully closed on March 27, 2019. As a result, Altice France is
    now benefiting from new streams of revenues for the construction and
    the maintenance of the FTTH network, with a greater contribution
    expected in the quarters to come.

    • B2C fixed base grew by +88k customers of which +63k fibre
      customers. SFR has the highest proportion of fibre subscribers
      within the total fixed customer base in France (42%).
    • B2C mobile postpaid base grew by +117k customers, supported by the
      continued positive impact of premium content (Champions’ League),
      a better network (best 4G+ network in 2018 according to nPerf
      survey).
    • Altice France reported positive revenue growth ex-VAT benefit of
      +0.1% YoY (vs. +0.3% YoY in Q4 2018, -2.7% in FY 2018 ex-VAT
      benefit). Altice France reported a significantly improved EBITDA
      trend in Q1 2019 of +4.5% YoY on a reported basis or +9.7% ex-VAT
      benefit (vs. -10.9% YoY in Q4 2018, -4.9% in FY 2018 ex-VAT
      benefit).
  • In Portugal, the Group again achieved a solid level of customer
    acquisition in the first quarter, resulting in positive revenue growth
    with careful cost control.

    • The B2C fixed base grew by +4k customers, while fixed and mobile
      churn has stabilized at the lowest level ever, alongside ARPU
      stabilization. Fibre customer net additions were +41k, supported
      by the expansion of fibre coverage. Mobile postpaid net additions
      were +33k.
    • Thanks to its continued network investments and successful
      convergent strategy, MEO inflected to positive revenue growth in
      Q1 2019 with +0.4% YoY (vs. -0.1% in Q4 2018, -3.1% in FY 2018). A
      tight control of the cost base paved the way to an improved EBITDA
      trend of -1.4% YoY in Q1 2019 (vs. -13.8% YoY in Q4 2018, -11.5%
      in FY 2018).
  • Altice International revenue grew by 2.0% YoY on a reported basis with
    Dominican Republic back to revenue growth, Israel starting to improve
    its revenue trends and Teads growing revenue by 30.2% YoY.

Capital Structure Key Highlights

  • On May 6, 2019, Altice Europe announced the successful debt raising of
    €2.8 billion of new 8-year Senior Notes at Altice Luxembourg SA at a
    weighted average cost on a fully euro swapped basis of 7.9%. Pro forma
    for the refinancing transactions, Altice Europe has a robust,
    diversified and long-term capital structure, with the average maturity
    of its debt capital structure extended by 0.5 years at now 6.2 years.
  • The proceeds from this transaction, together with €500 million cash
    from Altice France and swap monetization proceeds of €435 million,
    will be used by Altice Luxembourg to partially repay its existing
    $2,900 million and €2,075 million 2022 Notes. As a result, there will
    be approximately €1.0 billion equivalent outstanding of the 2022 Notes.
  • Furthermore, Altice Europe will use €1.0 billion of cash on balance
    sheet at Altice France to partially redeem its existing €1,250 million
    and $1,375 million 2024 Altice France Notes on a pro rata basis. As a
    result, there will be approximately €1.5 billion equivalent
    outstanding of the 2024 Altice France Notes.
  • Total consolidated Altice Europe net debt was €30.1 billion at the end
    of Q1 2019. Pro forma for the refinancing transactions, the average
    maturity of Altice Europe’s debt capital structure has been extended
    by 0.5 years and the weighted average cost of Altice Europe’s debt
    remains at 5.7%. Total cash savings pro forma for these transactions
    are in excess of €110 million of annual cash savings.

FY 2019 Guidance Reiterated

  • For the full year 2019, Altice Europe expects:

    • Operating free cash flow growth in the area of 10% YoY, excluding
      the Altice TV segment.
    • Altice France revenue growth within a range of 3% to 5%.
    • Altice France EBITDA within a range of €4.0 billion to €4.1
      billion.
  • Altice Europe targets a leverage of 4.25x net debt to Adjusted EBITDA
    within 24 months for the telecom perimeter (Altice Luxembourg). Altice
    Europe reiterates its plan to further deleverage its balance sheet and
    bring financial leverage in line with its stated target of 4x net debt
    to Adjusted EBITDA.

Other Significant Events

  • On April 27, 2019 Altice Europe announced that it intends to reduce
    its share capital by cancelling treasury shares. 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 will become effective in accordance
    with the provisions of Dutch law.

Conference call details

The company will host a conference call and webcast today, Thursday 9th
of May 2019 at 6:30pm CEST (5:30pm BST, 12:30pm 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: 9253509

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

https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1958496/8B432B4362064EC79B8D176B3F43F452

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 March 31,
2018 and March 31, 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 green.ch AG and Green Datacenter AG in Switzerland (following
closing announced on February 12, 2018) for the quarters ended March 31,
2018 and March 31, 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 1/1/18.

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, non-recurring items (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 March 31,
2019, unless otherwise stated, and any year over year comparisons are
for the quarter ended March 31, 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 March 31, 2019
In EUR million Altice
France
  Portugal   Israel  

Dominican
Republic

  Teads   Others  

Altice
TV

  Corporate
& Other
  Eliminations  

Altice Europe
Consolidated

                 
Residential – Fixed 627.7 153.6 139.5 25.3 946.2
Residential – Mobile 1,011.7 136.0 63.7 87.1 1,298.4
Business services 806.8 219.3 28.4 26.5 0.1 1,081.1
Media 112.2 88.1 59.7 260.0
Standalone Revenue 2,558.4 508.9 231.7 138.9 88.1 0.1 59.7 3,585.8
Eliminations -21.2 -10.2 -0.1 -0.0 -0.8 -38.4 -0.0 -70.6
Consolidated Revenue 2,537.2 498.7 231.6 138.9 87.3 0.1 21.3 3,515.2
 
Adjusted EBITDA 955.7 206.5 84.5 70.8 6.5 -0.2 -21.6 -4.3 -0.6 1,297.2
Margin (%) 37.4% 40.6% 36.5% 51.0% 7.4% nm nm nm nm 36.9%
 
Accrued Capex 581.4 100.5 57.7 28.2 0.6 3.2 -0.9 770.6
 

Adjusted EBITDA
– Accrued Capex

 

374.3 106.0 26.9 42.6 5.9 -0.2 -24.8 -4.3 0.3 526.7
  Altice Europe – Quarter ended March 31, 2018
In EUR million Altice
France
  Portugal   Israel   Dominican
Republic
  Teads   Others   Altice
TV
  Corporate
& Other
  Eliminations  

Altice Europe
Consolidated

                 
Residential – Fixed 678.3 155.3 150.2 24.4 1,008.2
Residential – Mobile 1,080.4 134.9 61.8 86.0 1,363.1
Business services 732.5 216.6 29.6 22.3 0.2 0.3 1,001.5
Media 107.6 67.7 20.3 195.6
Standalone Revenue 2,598.8 506.7 241.5 132.7 67.7 0.2 20.3 0.3 3,568.3
Eliminations -11.2 -11.9 -0.2 -0.3 -0.5 -15.8 -0.4 -40.2
Consolidated Revenue 2,587.6 494.9 241.4 132.4 67.3 0.2 4.5 -0.1 3,528.1
 
Adjusted EBITDA 914.5 209.3 107.1 73.8 5.5 -0.1 -56.0 -6.2 -0.4 1,247.5
Margin (%) 35.2% 41.3% 44.4% 55.6% 8.1% nm nm nm nm 35.4%
 
Accrued Capex 568.8 104.7 58.1 27.6 3.8 -2.3 760.7
 

Adjusted EBITDA
– Accrued Capex

 

345.8 104.6 49.1 46.1 5.5 -0.1 -59.8 -6.2 1.9 486.8

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 green.ch AG and Green Datacenter AG
in Switzerland (following closing announced on February 12, 2018) 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, non-recurring items (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 March 31, 2019
                       
000’s unless stated otherwise

Altice
France

Portugal Israel

Dominican
Republic

Total
Homes passed 23,518 5,205 2,138 794 31,654
Fibre homes passed 12,978 4,592 2,138 756 20,463
 

FIXED B2C

Fibre / cable unique customers 2,637 845 992 192 4,666
Net adds 63 41 3 0 107
Total fixed B2C unique customers 6,446 1,585 992 325 9,348
Net adds 88 4 3 7 101
 

MOBILE B2C

Postpaid subscribers 13,866 2,991 1,147 579 18,583
Net adds 117 33 7 11 167
Prepaid subscribers 1,534 3,375 160 2,485 7,554
Total mobile B2C subscribers 15,400 6,367 1,307 3,064 26,137
  Altice Europe – Quarter ended March 31, 2018
                       
000’s unless stated otherwise

Altice
France

Portugal Israel

Dominican
Republic

Total
Homes passed 24,777 5,066 2,098 788 32,729
Fibre homes passed 11,410 4,168 2,098 750 18,426
 

FIXED B2C

Fibre / cable unique customers 2,386 669 1,002 200 4,257
Net adds 96 49 1 -4 143
Total fixed B2C unique customers 6,097 1,559 1,002 322 8,980
Net adds 72 4 1 -1 76
 

MOBILE B2C

Postpaid subscribers 12,944 2,851 1,159 530 17,484
Net adds 244 34 7 -5 280
Prepaid subscribers 1,720 3,504 150 2,688 8,062
Total mobile B2C subscribers 14,663 6,356 1,309 3,219 25,547

Notes to KPIs tables

(1) Total homes passed in France includes unbundled DSL homes outside of
SFR’s fibre / cable (FTTH / FTTB) footprint. Portugal total homes passed
includes DSL homes enabled for IPTV outside of MEO’s fibre footprint and
fibre homes passed figures include homes where MEO has access through
wholesale fibre operators (c.0.4 million in Q1 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 and includes 4G Box
subscribers. For Israel, it refers to the total number of unique
customer relationships, including both B2C and B2B

(3) Mobile subscribers is 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: 5k iDEN and 1,302k UMTS as of March 31,
2019, and 7k iDEN and 1,302k UMTS as of March 31, 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 Forma4

For the quarter ended March 31, 2019 compared to the quarter ended
March 31, 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 France5, with more
than 12.8 million homes passed6 at the end of Q1 2019.

On March 27, 2019, Altice closed the SFR FTTH transaction, marking the
creation of the largest alternative FTTH infrastructure wholesale
operator in France. SFR FTTH has 5 million homes to be passed with scope
for more homes to be franchised or acquired. Altice France benefits from
an impressive momentum having been awarded with exclusive FTTH
deployments in 5 more French departments, 500,000 homes, since January
1, 2019.

On the mobile side, SFR continues to be the leader in terms of 4G mobile
antennas in service in France (39,3087) and covered 98.7% of
the population with 4G at the end of Q1 2019, in line with its target of
99%. 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 (4G+ at 300/500 Mbps). 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 Q1
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.

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

  • Total Altice France revenue increased +0.1% YoY ex-VAT benefit8,
    -1.6% YoY reported in Q1 2019 to €2,558 million, reflecting the impact
    of positive net adds mitigating the negative ARPU effect.
  • The B2C fixed base in France grew again with +88k unique customer net
    additions in Q1 2019 (vs. +72k net additions in Q1 2018):

    • Fibre net additions reached +63k in Q1 2019 (vs. +96k in Q1 2018)
    • Residential fixed revenues declined by -4.

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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