Altice: S&P puts rating on negative watch; shares fall

(CercleFinance.com) - Altice shares are down over 5% on Wednesday after Standard & Poor's placed its 'B+' long-term rating on the European telecom group on credit watch with negative implications.


In a statement late on Tuesday, S&P said the decision not only concerns holding company Altice, but also subsidiaries Altice International, Altice Luxembourg, and SFR Group.

The rating agency thinks that Altice's plans to spin off its US division will weaken the firm's scale and growth prospects, and make its deleverage more reliant on the performance of its French division SFR.

S&P warns it could downgrade the ratings by one notch if operational challenges were to continue or that Altice's adjusted debt to EBITDA were not decline below 6x in 2018.

After these comments, Altice shares, listed on Euronext Amsterdam, dropped 5.4% to 8.5 euros.

Copyright (c) 2018 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.