Liberty Global increases share buybacks as Q2 growth recovers

News General Europe 30 JUL 2021
Liberty Global increases share buybacks as Q2 growth recovers

Liberty Global announced second-quarter revenues up 14.1 percent year-on-year- to USD 3.1 billion, as the sports and advertising markets recovered from the initial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Organic growth reached 3.4 percent, with growth in all markets, the company said. Adjusted EBITDA rose 5.4 percent to USD 1.3 billion, and the company announced plans to expand its share buyback programme. 

Organic customer growth reached 2,400 net additions in Q2, down from 7,700 a year ago. The UK led the growth, offsetting losses in Belgium, Switzerland and Ireland. Liberty Global said consolidated broadband and postpaid mobile customers rose by 139,000, including 42,000 in the UK. 

Net earnings improved to USD 11.2 billion from a loss of USD 504 million a year ago, thanks to a one-time gain on the spin-off of Virgin Media in the UK. Liberty Global also announced that it may soon be exiting Poland, after receiving an offer from Iliad to acquire UPC Poland for PLN 7.3 billion (USD 1.9 billion).

Capex rose slightly to USD 607 million, while adjusted free cash flow was up 37 percent to USD 624 million. Liberty Global reiterated its forecast for annual adjusted free cash flow of USD 1.35 billion, up 26 percent. Net leverage was at 3.8x at the end of June, with an average maturity of over seven years for the debt. 

With USD 5.7 billion in liquidity at the end of the quarter, the company pledged to buy back at least 10 percent of its shares annually for the next three years. It's already spent USD 765 million on the current buyback as of 26 July and is increasing the authorisation for 2021 by USD 400 million, for a total USD 1.4 billion. 

 

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General

Companies:

UPC,  Iliad,  Liberty Global,  Virgin Media,  UPC Poland

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Europe

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Financial figures

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