Com Hem said it lifted revenue, expanded its customer base and reduced its net loss in the fourth quarter of 2014, and it announced a new CFO and a capital return programme. The fixed line operator said revenue rose 10.4 percent to SEK 1.229 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 from SEK 1.114 billion a year earlier, up 4.3 percent on an organic basis. Consumer ARPU was stable at SEK 361 while property owner (landladies and landlords) ARPU fell to SEK 33 per month from SEK 35 in the third quarter of 2014.
Underlying EBITDA went up by 6.6 percent year on year to SEK 576 million from SEK 540 million. Expanding underlying EBITDA together with its lower capital expenditure requirements strengthened its operating free cash flow by more than 66 percent year on year to SEK 236 million from SEK 142.
The net loss fell to SEK 164 million from a net loss of SEK 422 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. The loss per share declined to SEK 0.79 from SEK 4.22, and on a pro forma basis, it recorded positive EPS of SEK 0.63 compared with a loss per share of SEK 2.03.
The number of homes connected went up to 1,875,836 in the final quarter of 2014 from 1,845,948 in the third quarter. The unique consumer subscriber base grew by 16,000 during the quarter to 876,000. The churn improvement continued, falling from 14.8 percent in the previous quarter to 14.2 percent. The number of broadband revenue-generating units (RGUs) increased by 17,000 to 612,000, and digital television RGUs climbed by 10,000 to 618,000 RGUs. Com Hem's number of TiVo customers grew by over 32,000 to 164,000 customers, or a penetration rate of 27 percent, up from 22 percent. The fixed telephony subscriber base grew by 8,000 RGUs from the third quarter.
Com Hem also announced a three-part capital return programme. One element is a one-off share redemption scheme of approximately SEK 500 million, the second is an annual share buy-back programme of up to SEK 1.000 billion, and the third is a dividend of SEK 1 per share.
At the same time, the operator announced that Mikael Larsson has been appointed chief financial officer (CFO) with effect from 01 June. Larsson has held the position of CFO of Investment AB Kinnevik since 2001. He replaces Joachim Jaginder, who has decided to leave Com Hem after more than six years.
Com Hem also announced the appointment of Petra von Rohr as director of investor relations and corporate communications. Von Rohr has previously been CEO of the investment bank Remium in Sweden and most recently held the position of partner and head of financial communication at Kreab. Both Larsson and von Rohr will be part of Com Hem's executive management team.
