Continued sales growth in Q4 highlights resilience in competitive market
environment
·        Successful 4(th) quarter campaigns have resulted in a sequential
increase of gross adds
·        Favorable customer response to WiFi-hotspot pilot supports planned
rollout across Ziggo footprint during 2013-2014
·        Marketing & sales initiatives to be enhanced in 2013 whilst product
development initiatives to be accelerated
·        Strong free cash generation underpins plan to accelerate dividend
policy outlined at the time of the IPO
Operational highlights Q4 2012
·     All-in-1 bundle subscribers up 24,000 in Q4 resulting in 1.8% q-o-q
growth and 10.6% y-o-y growth; penetration reaches 50.3% of our consumer
customer base
·     Internet subscribers up 21,000 in Q4, representing 1.2% q-o-q growth and
6.1% y-o-y growth
·     Telephony usage revenue declines by 9.0% y-o-y and by approximately 5%
excluding FTA rate reduction; q-o-q growth of 3.2%
·     Digital Pay TV revenue increased through an ARPU increase and a strong
uptake of VOD, partly offset by a 27,000 decline in subscribers
·     Continued double-digit growth in B2B with almost 3,700 new business
bundles
Financial highlights Q4 2012
·     Revenues up 1.4% y-o-y to €383.2 million despite a 9.0% decline in
telephony usage revenue
·     Adjusted EBITDA €218.2 million, up 2.7% y-o-y
·     Net result increased to €70.4 million from €10.9 million in Q4 2011
·     Net debt amounts to €2.93 billion compared to €3.23 billion at year-end
2011
·     Leverage ratio down to 3.33x compared to 3.87x at year-end 2011
Operational highlights FY 2012
·     All-in-1 bundle subscribers up 134,000 or 10.6% for FY 2012
·     Internet subscribers up 103,000 or 6.1% for FY 2012
·     B2B RGUs up 41.4% to 194,000 driven by the sale of business bundles for
SOHO and SME's
Financial highlights FY 2012
·     Revenues up 4.0% y-o-y to €1,536.9 million; up 4.8% excluding other
revenue
·     B2B revenues up by 20.4% to €105.6 million
·     Adjusted EBITDA up 5.5% y-o-y to €880.4 million
·     Net result increased to €192.8 million in FY 2012 from €14.5 million in
FY 2011
·     Free cash flow increases by 10.3% despite an increase in capital
expenditure of 15.1%
·     Earnings per share climb from €0.07 in 2011 to €0.96 in 2012
·     Proposal to increase final dividend over 2012 to €180 million resulting
in a full year dividend per share over 2012 of €1.45
CEO Bernard Dijkhuizen:
"I am pleased to announce that we have increased our full year revenues by 4.0%
and maintained our strong EBITDA margin with 5.5% EBITDA growth, in line with
our plan for the year. This result was achieved notwithstanding the increase in
competitive intensity that we have seen over the course of 2012.
In the fourth quarter we have successfully stepped up our sales and marketing
campaigns, which has resulted in a sequential increase of gross adds for the
All-in-1 Bundle in Q4 2012. As the increase in sales is skewed towards the end
of the quarter, we will record part of the Q4 sales in the first weeks of 2013.
At the same time, we have seen an increase in churn to competition. However, the
sequential increase in gross adds in Q4 more than offset the higher churn during
the quarter.
Following our assessment of the increasingly competitive environment since Q2
2012, and considering the continuation of this trend in Q4, we have decided to
step up our marketing & sales initiatives in 2013. In addition, we will speed up
our product development initiatives by pulling forward some investments in
product innovation that were originally planned to be made after 2013."
Outlook
Based on our continued investments in our network and customer base, we are
confident that we can further benefit from having the best network and the best
product offering in the Dutch market.
For 2013 we will increase marketing and sales initiatives, which will result in
higher costs for sales and promotions. We expect EBITDA for 2013 to increase in
the range of 2.5-3.5% with revenue growth moderately ahead of this rate. We
anticipate an increase in revenue momentum over the course of 2013 as our
marketing initiatives take effect. Our capital expenditure for 2013 will
increase to €320-330 million. Approximately half of this increase compared to
prior year is the result of accelerating the development of new products and
systems originally planned for future years. Speeding up product development and
innovations in the area of TV Everywhere and mobility means also pulling forward
investments in systems to facilitate these new services.
We believe that the investments we are making will help secure continued long
term earnings growth and generate new revenue streams for the business over the
medium term. We shall continue to exercise the financial self-discipline which
was shown by our Company in the recent mobile spectrum auction, which underpins
the financial flexibility which we enjoy. Our strong cash generation enables us
to invest for the future while also gradually increasing shareholder returns.
For the full version of the Press Release please find attached PDF.
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Source: Ziggo via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1672808]
