Spanish operator Cellnex Telecom, Europe’s largest mobile towers company, reported revenues of EUR 1.06 billion in the first half of 2021, up 47 percent year on year, with EBITDA rising 53 percent to EUR 804 million thanks mainly to the consolidation of the series of assets acquired in 2020 and the first quarter of the year. The financial costs of these investments and a 60 percent increase in amortisation costs prompted a net loss of EUR 67 million in the same period, but the group announced that it would be raising its revenue and core earnings outlook for 2021 as a whole.
Hikes FY revenue outlook to over EUR 2.5 bln
Cellnex said it now expected an adjusted EBITDA of between EUR 1.91 billion and EUR 1.93 billion in 2021 compared to a previous target range of EUR 1.815 billion to EUR 1.855 billion. It also increased its revenues outlook for the full year to between EUR 2.535 billion and EUR 2.555 billion from around EUR 2.4 billion, while it expected a recurring levered free cash flow of between EUR 955 million and EUR 965 million from the previous guidance of EUR 905 million to EUR 925 million.In terms of business lines, infrastructure services for mobile telecommunications operators contributed 85 percent of total income in the first 6 months of the year, amounting to EUR 900 million, up 63 percent year on year, while broadcasting services and infrastructure contributed EUR 109 million, or 10 percent of income. Finally, the segment comprising the company’s security and emergency service networks as well as its smart cities business contributed EUR 52 million, or 5 percent of revenues in H1. Cellnex committed to investments of around EUR 6.3 billion in the first half of 2021, nearly EUR 4 billion more than a year earlier, the majority of which corresponded to the incorporation of new assets, ongoing integration and roll-out of new infrastructure.
The company said a total of 25 percent of its revenue comes from the Spanish market, with Italy still the company’s second largest market, accounting for 17 percent of group revenues, followed by France with 16 percent. In total the group had 81,775 operative sites at the end of June, double the year-earlier total and encompassing 4,487 in Austria; 1,338 in Denmark; 10,339 in Spain; 11,266 in France; 1,787 in Ireland; 20,020 in Italy; 4,061 in the Netherlands; 7,428 in Poland; 5,117 in Portugal; 7,996 in the UK; 2,578 in Sweden and 5,338 in Switzerland.
It also had a further 3,994 nodes (DAS and small cells), the latter up 40 percent year on year, with points of Presence (PoPs) up 7.5 percent year on year. Cellnex added that it will reach a total of 130,000 operative sites in 12 European countries once its recent operations are concluded.
