Spanish operator Cellnex Telecom, Europe’s largest mobile towers company, reported revenues of EUR 723 million in the first half of 2020, up 48 percent year on year, with EBITDA rising 64 percent to EUR 527 million thanks mainly to the series of acquisitions made in 2019 in France and Italy (Iliad), Switzerland (Salt), the UK (BT), Ireland (Cignal) and Spain (Orange), as well as the purchase of OMTEL in Portugal, which closed in January. The financial costs of these investments and higher amortisation prompted a net loss of EUR 43 million in the same period, up from EUR 30 million in the first three months of 2020, a negative result that’s expected to continue “in the coming quarters”, said Cellnex.
In terms of business lines, infrastructure services for mobile telecommunications operators contributed 77 percent of total income in the first 6 months of the year, amounting to EUR 553 million, up 70 percent year on year, while broadcasting services and infrastructure contributed EUR 117 million, or 16 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 7 percent of revenues in H1. Cellnex committed to investments of around EUR 2.5 billion in the first half of 2020, having invested nearly EUR 4 billion in 2019.
Cellnex added that a total of 63 percent of its revenue and 72 percent of EBITDA now come from outside the Spanish market, with Italy still the company’s second largest market, accounting for 23 percent of group revenues. In total the group had 40,505 operative sites at the end of June (10,313 in Spain, 10,356 in Italy, 9,411 in France, 922 in the Netherlands, 611 in the UK, 5,272 in Switzerland, 601 in Ireland and 3,019 in Portugal), plus a further 2,090 nodes (DAS and small cells), the latter up 20 percent year on year. Points of Presence (PoPs) were up 5 percent year on year while the customer ratio per site was up 3 percent.
Looking ahead, Cellnex increased its full-year EBITDA outlook to EUR 1.16-1.18 billion from a previous estimate of EUR 1.065-1.085 billion thanks to the progressive integration of the assets acquired in 2019 and the first few months of 2020. The company also said it expects free and recurring cash flow (RLFCF) of around 70 percent for 2020 versus an initial estimate of 50 percent.
