French operator Numericable-SFR posted revenue down 3.5 percent to EUR 11.04 billion in 2015, compared with EUR 11.44 billion in 2014. B2C sales declined by 3.7 percent to EUR 7.6 billion, and B2B decreased by 4.8 percent to EUR 2.12 billion, while wholesale revenue grew by 0.2 percent to EUR 1.33 billion. The group estimates that it made around EUR 755 million of savings on its expenses in 2015 and is confident that it will meet medium-term synergy targets set when Numericable acquired SFR.
The group had 21.95 mobile customers at the end of 2015, down 4.3 percent in a year. In 2015, residential customers declined by 6.8 percent to 15.14 million, with prepaid users down 22 percent and postpaid customers down 3.1 percent to 12.6 million. Mobile ARPU was stable at EUR 22.50 a month in 2015. During the fourth quarter, the operator grew its mobile base by 140,000.
Numericable-SFR served 6.35 million fixed-line customers at the end of December 2015. Subscribers to 30 Mbps+ service grew by 17 percent to 1.81 million. DSL subscribers declined by 9.8 percent in a year to 4.54 million and is expected to recede further in 2016 as customers migrate to fibre. Fixed-line ARPU stood at EUR 35.10 a month in 2015, compared to EUR 34.10 in 2014. The operator added 78,000 fibre customers in the fourth quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA improved 20 percent to EUR 3.86 billion in 2015, compared to EUR 3.21 billion in 2014. Capex declined by 2 percent to EUR 1.86 billion. Numericable-SFR reported a EUR 682 million net profit in 2015, versus a EUR 188 million net loss in 2014.
