Liberty Global reported organic revenues from its continuing operations down 0.9 percent in the second quarter. This excludes its German and Eastern European businesses just sold to Vodafone, but includes the Swiss activities, which are not expected to sell until Q4. The weakness in Switzerland and Belgium offset growth in the UK in the quarter. Liberty Global announced it will use some of the proceeds from the divestments for share buybacks.
Revenue totaled USD 2.85 billion in the quarter, down 0.9 percent on an organic basis and 5.5 percent lower on a reported basis. Organic operating cash flow from continuing operations dropped 4.3 percent to USD 1.19 billion. Excluding Switzerland, the organic figures were down 0.6 and 3.4 percent.
The operator lost nearly 29,000 cable revenue-generating units in the quarter, compared to a net gain of 41,000 in the year-earlier period. That includes net losses of 5,000 at Virgin Media in the UK, 20,000 at Telenet in Belgium and 28,000 at UPC Switzerland, offset by a net gain 24,000 in Poland and Slovakia.
Liberty Global said it expects to have over USD 14 billion in liquidity once it completes its divestments later this year. It will devote USD 2.5 billion of this to buying back its shares. The Dutch auction will start 12 August and included USD 625 million to buy Class A shares and USD 1.8975 billion for Class C shares.
Nearly USD 300 million was spent already in Q2 on share repurchases. Following the closing of the Vodafone deal, Liberty Global reduced its debt leverage to around 3.0x from 5.2x at the end of Q2.
Adjusted free cash flow totaled USD 546 million in Q2, and capex reached USD 605 million excluding Switzerland. This puts the company on track for its full-year outlook to achieve cash flow of USD 550-600 million and capex of around USD 2.7 billion. Operating cash flow for the year is expected flat to slightly lower excluding Switzerland.
