Altice Europe's French operations generated revenues of EUR 2.64 billion in the first quarter, up 3.6 percent year-on-year (+13.3% in Q4). EBITDA rose 1.6 percent to 975 million, marginally below analysts' consensus forecast. The EBITDA growth rate slowed down sequentially from 19.6 percent in the previous quarter. The French subsidiary continued to account for 73 percent of Altice Europe's revenues, broadly stable year-on-year.
Altice France reported an ongoing positive performance in its core telecom business (+4.1%), which offset lower revenues at its Media division (-7.8%). The main growth driver remained the segment grouping B2B and wholesale telecom operations, which saw revenues rise 8.0 percent to EUR 872 million, from the 43.0 percent increase reported in the previous quarter. The growth rate was negatively impacted by slower fibre deployment during March, due to the Covid-19 crisis, affecting revenues under the construction contract secured with the SFR FTTH joint venture.
Telecom revenues in the consumer division achieved positive growth for a fourth consecutive quarter, as B2C service revenues rose 2.3 percent to EUR 1.54 billion (+0.8% in Q4). This trend was supported by ongoing progress in the residential fixed segment (+2.1% from +0.7% in Q4) and a steady progression in the mobile segment, where revenues rose 2.4 percent to EUR 900 million (+0.9% in Q4). The company said that this improvement reflected higher ARPU and customer growth at its SFR business.
Across France and the overseas territories, B2C mobile subscriptions rose 3.1 percent year-on-year to reach 15.87 million. Quarterly net additions for the postpaid mobile base eased to 79,000, from 196,000 in the previous quarter and 117,000 in the year-earlier period.
The residential fixed base increased 2.0 percent year-on-year to 6.36 million, adding 8,000 net connections since December (+44,000 in Q4 and +28,000 a year earlier). Out of this total, fibre-based subscriptions rose by 64,000 in the quarter to 2.90 million, or 45.6 percent of overall fixed subscriptions. The marketable footprint, combining FTTH and hybrid fibre-coaxial connectivity, covered 16.42 million homes at end-March, an increase of 1.05 million since end-2019.
Altice Europe maintains 2020 guidance and medium-term FCF target
Altice Europe, which combines France, International and Altice TV, generated revenues of EUR 3.63 billion in the first quarter, up 3.1 percent year-on-year at constant currency (+10.7% in Q4). EBITDA rose 0.7 percent to EUR 1.31 billion, while operating free cash flow increased 11.7 percent to EUR 592 million, when excluding Altice TV. Describing the first-quarter performance as "a good start of the year", the group has kept its full-year guidance unchanged, under the assumption that Covid-19 confinement measures cease to apply during the current quarter.
The medium-term goal of an organic FCF above EUR 1 billion has also been confirmed, alongside the objective to deleverage the balance sheet and achieve a 4.0x to 4.5x net debt to EBITDA ratio in 2020. At end-March, Altice Europe's total consolidated net debt was EUR 31.2 billion (EUR 28.5 billion on a pro forma basis).
