Liberty Global posted slightly lower underlying sales and EBITDA in the fourth quarter, still affected by the coronavirus pandemic and consequent lower B2B and roaming revenue and loss of premium sports content. The company noted that it was nevertheless able to meet or exceed expectations for the year and that its efforts to reduce capital intensity helped it deliver an adjusted free cash flow for the year of USD 1.1 billion.
For 2021, the company sees modest underlying revenue gains in the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium, as customer growth, price increases and B2B services continue the momentum experienced in 2020. The rebased figures will come under pressure from costs related to its integration of Sunrise UPC in Switzerland but the company is still forecasting a 25 percent increase in adjusted free cash flow to USD 1.35 billion for this year, and an even larger increase in adjusted free cash flow per share as it implements its USD 1 billion share buyback programme. Liberty Global retired 9 percent of outstanding equity in 2020 and reported cash and liquidity positions at end-December at USD 3.3 billion and 6.2 billion respectively, with the net leverage at 5.1x, from 4.0x in the previous quarter.
The group added a net 56,000 new fixed customer relationships in the quarter and a total of 81,000 in 2020, from losses of 25,500 and 73,900 the year before. Growth in Q4 came mainly from the UK/Ireland at Virgin Media (+41,700), along with the CEE operations (+21,000), while Belgium (-1,000) and Switzerland (-5,800) lost customers, though less than in Q3.
Cable ARPU slid 2.5 percent on an organic basis to USD 61.74, while mobile ARPU fell 3.1 percent to USD 17.65. Total RGUs increased by 40,700 to 26.093 million, with a loss of 9,500 TV customers and 50,500 fixed telephony users offset by broadband and mobile growth.
Liberty Global said it added 100,700 broadband customers in the quarter and 242,000 in the year, with Virgin Media and UPC Switzerland achieving their best broadband adds since 2017. It also gained 59,000 postpaid mobile customers in Q4 and 513,000 in 2020, with record additions at Virgin Media. FMC penetration advanced as a result to 28 percent of customers across the group, from 23 percent the year earlier.
Total revenues jumped 14.9 percent from the year before to USD 3.426 billion in the quarter, helped by the acquisition of Sunrise and positive forex effects, though they were off 0.5 percent on an organic basis. Integration is going well in Switzerland, the company added. The joint venture between Virgin Media and Telefonica’s O2 in the UK is still expected to close in the middle of this year, with "very positive progress" on regulatory clearance, the company said.
The adjusted EBITDA advanced 5.8 percent to USD 1.347 billion but fell 6.2 percent on a rebased basis. The loss from continuing operations narrowed to USD 1.007 billion from a loss of 1.466 billion.
For the full year, revenues went up 3.8 percent to USD 11.980 billion, with the underlying figure down 1.5 percent. The adjusted EBITDA was up 0.7 percent to USD 4.895 billion in 2020, but off 3.9 percent on a rebased basis. The operating loss widened to USD 1.446 billion from a loss of 1.409 billion.
The company built 154,000 new premises during Q4, including 115,000 in the UK and Ireland. it is now marketing gigabit broadband services to over 20 million premises across its pan-European footprint.
