German cable network operator Kabel Deutschland (KD) saw its revenues grow 3.7 percent year-on-year to EUR 482 million in the third quarter of its fiscal year 2013/14. The growth was driven by continued increase of broadband and fixed telephony customers. Excluding the public broadcasters carriage fees the year-on-year growth was 5.3 percent. Kabel Deutschland’s quarterly EBITDA increased 4.7 percent year-on-year from EUR 220 million to EUR 231 million leading to an EBITDA margin of 47.8 percent. Kabel Deutschland reports a net profit of EUR 33 million for the quarter, down from EUR 73 million, primarily caused by tax expenses of EUR 38 million after deferred tax assets on loss carry forwards were amortized in the second quarter of fiscal Q2. The capex for the quarter amounted to EUR 149 million and the operating free cash flow was EUR 82 million.
Kabel Deutschland’s direct subscriber base expanded to 7.59 million gaining 24,000 year-on-year and the total RGUs grew by 4.5 percent year on-year to 14.77 million. The uptake of broadband, fixed telephony services has led to an increase of RGUs per customers from 1.66 at the end of December 2012 to 1.76 at the end of December 2013. Kabel Deutschland’s basic cable subscribers dropped 0.6 percent during the quarter to 8.39 million including 2.24 million premium TV subscribers using either pay TV or DVR services. The broadband customer base grew by 4.7 percent during the quarter to 2.09 million and the fixed telephony base increased 4.1 percent to 2.05 million lines. The ARPU for the quarter amounted to EUR 17.30 compared with EUR 16.95 in the preceding quarter and EUR 16.05 a year ago.
The management of Kabel Deutschland confirms the guidance for the current fiscal year 2013/14 with revenue growth of approximately 5 to 6 percent on a pro forma basis excluding EUR 25 million of carriage fees from public broadcasters in fiscal year 2012/13 and any carriage fees from public broadcasters in fiscal year 2013/14. The adjusted EBITDA margin will be around 48 percent of the revenues and the regular capex to sales ratio of approximately 25 percent plus no more than EUR 120 million for the Alpha investment program. Kabel Deutschland currently gives no guidance on shareholder remuneration. Kabel Deutschland is controlled by Vodafone that acquired a stake of 76.57 percent in the second half of 2013.
