Last week, Altice was in the spotlight. Its share price was down 65 percent, but correcting for the Altice USA spin-off, there was in fact a 139 percent leap up from the previous week. Altice managed to bring the Telecompaper European telecoms index into positive territory (+0.3%), as without it the sector would have been marginally down (-0.1%). Altice may have been helped in performing this remarkable leap by news of Arcep's president no longer opposing market consolidation. Overall, the index outperformed the EuroStoxx 50 index (-1.6%).
News from Germany, Netherlands, UK
Deutsche Telekom (-0.5%) hosted its Capital Markets Day but failed to create positive momentum. In fact, all German telecoms shares were down in week 21, apart from Ecotel (+3.0%): Tele Columbus (-3.7%), United Internet (-3.0%), Telefonica Deutschland (-2.4%), QSC (-0.9%), 1&1 Drillisch (-0.3%) and Freenet (-0.0%).
KPN (-2.9%) announced a special dividend, based on the dividend it received from its minority stake in Telefonica Deutschland, but only a symbolic 1.3 cents per share. Its CFO reiterated KPN's stance on M&A, saying that it will only involve small national deals. Of more importance was news from Brussels, apparently giving support to the regulator's joint dominance concept, pioneered to bring not just the incumbent but also the national cable company VodafoneZiggo under ACM's regulation. With the Dutch operator just a minor part of the parents Vodafone (+1.0%) and Liberty Global (-1.8%), the impact on the companies was limited.
Troubled TalkTalk (-1.6%) reported its Q4 results. At the same time, the company raised GBP 175 million from the sale of a large part of its enterprise division. Also, it confirmed a Chairman and CEO for its newly formed fibre joint venture with Infracapital. Competitor BT (+3.3%) was the subject of rumours involving the possible sale of its fixed-line network to infrastructure investors.
Iliad and Turk Telekom recovering
Orange Belgium (+2.3%) added fixed-line telephony to its cable resale offer to round out the triple-play of services. The company also added live television to its Orange TV app, turning it into a full 'TV everywhere' app. More good news followed as it lured away Medialaan's MVNO activities from Liberty Global.
TDC (-0.0%) is preparing for a stock market exit, after the successful takeover by the Macquarie consortium. A squeeze-out of the last shareholders will follow and the final quote will be made by June 4.
Iliad (+11%) and Türk Telekom (+14%) made recoveries from previous losses. Iridium (+14%) was also among the week's biggest winners.
YTD performance ranges from +353% to -34%
In the year-to-date view, Intelsat (+353%) extended its lead, now followed by Altice (+133%). German cable company Tele Columbus (-34%) and Polish mobile operator Play (-30%) are at the other end of the spectrum.
