Liberty Global revenues fall 4.5% in Q2, hit by covid-19 effects

Liberty Global added 7,700 customers, an improvement on the year before ’s loss of 28,600, after reporting results for the second quarter pulled down by covid-19 related impacts. Customer additions got a boost from Virgin Media, whose almost 24,000 clients adds were its best result in four years, as well as from CEE (Poland and Slovakia) where gains went to 3,100. The sour notes were provided by Switzerland, which lost 16,400 customers, and Belgium, which lost 2,900. Year-to-date, the group has lost 11,200 customers, slowing from its loss of 30,300 the year before. 

Fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) continued to drive mobile growth, with 100,000 postpaid additions, and penetration reached 23 percent at Virgin Media, 46 percent at Telenet and 22 percent at UPC Switzerland. The company also said it was making progress on the proposed merger of Virgin Media and O2 UK. 

Revenues slid 4.5 percent from the year before to USD 2.72 billion, impacted by a negative effect of USD 100 million related to the virus pandemic. The adjusted EBITDA was virtually flat, going to USD 1.18 billion from 1.19 billion, while the operating loss widened to USD 503.8 million from a loss of 339.6 million. Rebased revenue was still down 4.3 percent, hit by virus related expenses in the UK and Switzerland, mainly due to the cancellation of sporting events. Only CEE-Poland and Slovakia showed some growth. The operating cash flow went 13.6 percent lower to USD 1.14 billion. 

Liberty Global ended the quarter with a total 10.716 million fixed customers, pretty much flat year-on-year, and 6.413 million mobile subscribers, an improvement from the 6.36 million reported the year before. Cable ARPU fell to USD 57.35 from 59.50, with only Telenet showing an increase. Mobile ARPU declined to USD 15.65 from 16.49 including interconnect revenue, and to USD 13.16 from 14.15 excluding that revenue. 

Despite the uncertainty looking forward, Liberty has reiterated its original full-year guidance, supported by the refinancing of over USD 10 billion worth of long-term debt year-to-date. The company’s balance sheet is in “great shape”, the company said, with USD 9.8 billion of total liquidity, including USD 7.4 billion in cash. Liberty spent USD 750 million on share buybacks from mid-February through July.