Bouygues Telecom has trimmed its outlook for full-year results following pressure from the Covid-19 pandemic. The French operator now expects annual growth of 4 percent in services revenue due to the sharp drop in roaming, compared to a previous forecast for 5 percent growth. This follows growth of 8 percent in service revenues in the first half of the year.
Total revenues in the first half of 2020 reached EUR 3.04 billion, up 4 percent year-on-year as growth in services revenue was offset by lower handset sales following store closures. Bouygues estimates that Covid-19 took around EUR 70 million off revenues in the period. Service revenues rose 8 percent to EUR 2.40 billion, driven by growth in both fixed and mobile customers and a rise in ABPU.
For the second quarter, the company said total sales rose 6 percent year-on-year. This included an 11 percent increase in fixed services revenue and 4 percent higher mobile service revenue.
EBITDA after leases was up 9 percent EUR 711 million in the first half, including an extra EUR 20 million spent on a brand repositioning and advertising campaign and around EUR 20 million in Covid-related costs. Operating profit fell slightly to EUR 254 million due to lower one-time gains in disposals.
Bouygues increased capex slightly in the first half to EUR 581 million and said it still expects to spend around EUR 1.2 billion over the full year, excluding the 5G spectrum auction. The company lowered its forecast for annual free cash flow to around EUR 250 million from a target of EUR 300 million previously.
In terms of customers, Bouygues said it was growing at a level faster than before the pandemic since it reopened shops in mid-May. The operator ended June with 11.8 million mobile contract subscribers excluding M2M, an increase of 161,000 from the end of March and stronger than the growth in Q1. Bouygues said the split premium and Sim/web-only customers was stable, with a high proportion of customers who returned to the company’s stores completing a purchase. Total mobile customers were up by 378,000 since the start of the year to nearly 18.2 million.
In the fixed market, Bouygues Telecom added 93,000 FTTH subscribers in Q2 for a total of 1.2 million at the end of June, with growth slowing from 117,000 net adds in Q1. That takes it to 30 percent of customers on fibre, versus 20 percent a year ago. The total fixed base numbered just under 4 million at end-June 2020, an increase of 73,000 since the start of 2020.
