Orange Belgium : Third quarter 2016 financial results
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
Solid mobile service revenues with +7.2 % restated EBITDA growth in Q3 lead
Orange Belgium to upgrade its 2016 guidance
Clear focus on convergence and customer experience
Brussels, 21 October 2016 - Today, the Orange Belgium Group (Euronext Brussels:
OBEL) publishes its results for the third quarter and first nine months of
2016. Following the rebranding and the national launch of the Orange Internet +
TV offer in Belgium in the second quarter of 2016, Orange Belgium maintains an
intense and sustained activity in the third quarter of 2016 with the launch of a
new convergent and data centric mobile portfolio. In the third quarter of 2016,
the Orange Belgium Group succeeded in realizing a solid restated EBITDA (+ 7.2 %
year-on-year), supported by stable mobile service revenues and a constant focus
on cost management, more than offsetting 13.0 million euros EU roaming impact.
* In the third quarter and first nine months of 2016 the Orange Belgium Group
realized a total turnover of 311.1 and 919.8 million euros, an increase of
1.7 % and 0.8 % year-on year (+6.2 % and +2.9 % underlying growth once
adjusted for the 13.0 and 19.2 million euros EU roaming impact). This
performance has been fuelled by a solid growth in mobile service revenues of
5.2 % and 3.9 % year-on-year in the third quarter and first nine months of
2016 once adjusted for EU roaming, reflecting both a growing postpaid
customer base (+57.3 thousand) and sustained postpaid ARPU evolution (+1.5
%) in Belgium, compared to September 2015.
* In combination with the positive development of the top line, a tireless
focus on cost management allowed the Orange Belgium Group to absorb the
fixed costs related to the cable launch and the adverse impact of EU
roaming. The restated EBITDA amounted to 92.2 and 237.1 million euros in the
third quarter and first nine months of 2016, equivalent to a 7.2 % and 4.0 %
growth year-on-year. The Group pursued its efforts on cost transformation in
the third quarter of 2016 that translated into lower commissions paid to
third-party distributors, a reduction in labor costs and a further decrease
in IT and network expenses. This operational performance, in addition to the
mobile capex normalization, led to a net financial debt to EBITDA ratio of
0.9x from 1.7x a year ago, reflecting a strong operational cash flow in the
third quarter of 2016, up 38.9 % year-on-year or 25.2 % year-on-year in the
first nine months of 2016.
* The rebranding from Mobistar to Orange has been positively welcomed by the
Belgian population. Riding the wave of the UEFA EURO 2016 sponsorship, and
alongside the Go Europe roaming promotion during summer, Orange Belgium is
increasingly perceived as a convergent operator. The first Orange Internet
+TV advertising campaign launched in September 2016 as well as the newly
launched advertising campaign that is currently supporting the launch of the
new mobile product portfolio, will further establish Orange as a strong and
convergent brand in Belgium.
* The Orange Internet + TV customer base developed favorably in the third
quarter of 2016, reaching 17.6 thousand billed convergent customers,
supported by a competitive pricing for a high quality product. While
upselling campaigns towards existing mobile customers continue being a
success, the go-to-market has progressively evolved in September 2016
towards the acquisition of people that are not yet Orange Belgium clients as
more distribution channels (Carrefour, Media Markt) were opened. Towards the
end of the third quarter of 2016 there was a clear acceleration in gross
adds driven by the first Orange Internet + TV advertising campaign.
* Both the postpaid customer base and ARPU have now increased for six
consecutive quarters. In a competitive and promotional market, Orange
Belgium's postpaid customer base grew by 3.5 thousand customers in the third
quarter of 2016, ahead of the launch of Orange Belgium's new mobile and
convergent portfolio. For the first nine months of 2016 Orange Belgium added
29.7 thousand postpaid customers. Furthermore, 4G adoption amongst Orange
Belgium's customers continued with an increase of close to 100 thousand
active postpaid 4G users in the third quarter of 2016. Supported by the
continued increase of 4G smartphone penetration and mobile data usage, the
postpaid ARPU increased further to 28.8 euro in the third quarter of 2016,
an increase of 1.5 % year-on-year, in spite of the impact of EU roaming
regulation, reflecting the ability to upsell tariff plans and to monetize
mobile data growth.
* As a result of this strong financial and commercial performance over the
first nine months of 2016, the Orange Belgium Group is upgrading its
restated EBITDA guidance by 10 million euros for the 2016 financial year by
revising the guidance to 'between 280 and 300 million euros including 15
million euros cable costs' from 'between 285 and 305 million euros excluding
cable costs' previously.
Orange Belgium Investor Relations
For the full PDF version, please click here below:
Q3 2016 results - FR:
http://hugin.info/134974/R/2050446/766973.pdf
Q3 2016 results - UK:
http://hugin.info/134974/R/2050446/766972.pdf
Q3 2016 results - NL:
http://hugin.info/134974/R/2050446/766974.pdf
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Orange Belgium via GlobeNewswire
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 21.10.2016 - 07:00 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 501987
Anzahl Zeichen: 6509
contact information:
Town:
Brussels
Kategorie:
Business News
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