German operator 1&1 Drillisch said its revenues in Q4 last year grew 1.6 percent year-on-year to EUR 945.3 million. Service revenues rose by 3.4 percent to EUR 742.7 million. EBITDA in Q4 fell by 11.3 percent to EUR 174.8 million, and EBIT decreased by 13.2 percent to 137.2 million.
At the group level, revenues in the fiscal year 2019 grew by 1.1 percent to EUR 3.67 billion. Service revenues rose by 3.1 percent to EUR 2.94 billion. The number of customers progressed by 790,000 to 14.33 million compared with 13.54 million in 2018. The number of mobile customers grew by 8.6 percent to 9.99 million, and the number of broadband lines remained unchanged at 4.34 million.
Annual EBITDA fell by 5.3 percent to EUR 683.5 million last year, and EBIT decreased by 6.8 percent to EUR 528.5 million. EBITDA was impacted by the effects of the changeover to IFRS 16, one-offs related to the Drillisch integration, a regulatory decision on the increase in subscriber line charges, and the EU regulatory decision regarding costs of text messages.
Other negative factors for earnings were the initial costs of constructing the 5G network, and substantial additional costs for advance service purchases following the expiry of the temporary adjustment mechanism of an advance service contract at the end of 2018. Without these negative effects, EBITDA would have risen year-on-year by 4.8 percent.
Profit per share amounted to EUR 2.12 in 2019 compared with EUR 2.30 the prior year. Free cash flow improved from EUR 142.6 million in 2018 to EUR 355.4 million in 2019.
For 2020, the company expects revenue and earnings to be roughly on a par with the level of the previous year. Based on the upcoming investments in 5G network expansion, the company will propose an unchanged dividend of EUR 0.05 per share at the next Annual General Meeting.
