Altice Europe: wins over customers, but margin slips

(CercleFinance.com) - SFR's parent company, Altice Europe, continued to win over customers in Q2, although this was at the detriment of its margins.
Nevertheless, the group has confirmed its forecasts.

The European division of Patrick Drahi's telecom empire notched up an additional 13,000 net customers in the second quarter for landline telephony, compared with a loss of 16,000 a year earlier, in particular thanks to fiber optics (+56,000 units, i.e. +60% over one year). The attrition rate continues to fall - this has reached a new record low in France since the acquisition of SFR. In the mobile sector, the number of postpaid customers rose by 211,000 in net terms in Q2 after a gain of 34,000 in Q2 2017, thanks to promotional offers, as well as a drop in the attrition rate and customer complaints.

In these conditions, the group's sales fell by 3.8% as reported in Q2, i.e. -2.3% excluding FX factors, while adjusted EBITDA decreased by 9.1% and -5.%, respectively in these same terms. The group's margin has therefore fallen from 40.1% to 37.8%.

Finally, the group has confirmed its forecasts, which include, in the medium and long term include a return to growth and improvements in its adjusted EBITDA.



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