Liberty Global adds 316,000 RGUs in Q3

News Broadband Europe 6 NOV 2013
Liberty Global adds 316,000 RGUs in Q3

Cable group Liberty Global added 316,000 revenue-generating units in the third quarter, taking its base to 47.8 million. This included gains of 214,000 broadband customers and 153,000 telephony customers, offset by the loss of 53,000 TV clients. The growth was better than the second quarter, thanks to an improved performance in central and eastern Europe, Belgium and the UK, the company said. Virgin Media in the UK was still losing RGUs, but UPC Netherlands returned to positive additions, thanks to new offers launched in September. 

The company also had over 365,000 customers for its new Horizon TV box as of the end of October, after extending the roll-out to four countries in Europe. The Tivo box in the UK grew to over 1.8 million users, with 165,000 additions in Q3. 

Revenues for the third quarter rose 74 percent from a year earlier to USD 4.4 billion thanks to the Virgin takeover and were up 3 percent on an organic basis excluding forex effects. Growth was led by a 12 percent increase at Telenet in Belgium and 7 percent growth in Chile and Germany. Operating cash flow rose 63 percent, or 3 percent on an organic basis, to USD 2.0 billion, led by a 10 percent increase in Switzerland. 

Operating profit was up 3 percent to USD 522 million, while the net loss widened to USD 830 million or USD 2.09 per share due to losses on derivatives and higher tax and interest expense. The company's capital expenditure rose to USD 957 million or 22 percent of revenue in the quarter, with the increase mainly due to the inclusion of Virgin Media. 

Liberty finished the quarter with debt of USD 44.0 billion, cash of USD 2.2 billion and borrowing capacity of USD 3.3 billion. The sale of Chellomedia, expected to close in Q1 2014, will add another USD 1.0 billion cash to this. After spending USD 1.0 billion year-to-date on share repurchases, Liberty said it was on track to buy back USD 3.5 billion in stock by 2015. 

Categories:

Fixed

Companies:

Telenet,  Liberty Global,  UPC Netherlands,  Virgin Media

Regions:

Europe,  Global

Tags:

Voice services, Financial figures, Cable - Docsis, Internet Access

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