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Proximus SA — Investor Presentation 2014
Aug 1, 2014
3989_rns_2014-08-01_db6e6d79-ebb0-4894-bf55-3e75733701bd.pdf
Investor Presentation
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Belgacom Presentation Q2 2014 results
Group Financials
Executive summary – slide 4 Group Revenue – slide 5 Mobile Service Revenue slide 6 Operating expenses - slide 7 EBITDA – slide 8 Capex – slide 9 FCF – slide 10 Financial Position – slide 11 Outlook – slide 12 P&L – slide 13 Balance sheet – slide 14
Group Operationals
Mobile & Fixed overview – slide 16 Operational Household reporting – slide 17 Financial Household reporting – slide 18
Network
Mobile – slide 20 Fixed – slide 21
Details per Business Unit – slide 22
Cautionary Statement
"This communication might include some forward-looking statements, without limitation, regarding Belgacom's financial or operational results, certain strategic plans or objectives, macro-economic trends, regulation, future market conditions and other risk factors. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside Belgacom's control. Therefore the actual future results may differ
materially from those expressed in or implied by the statements.
Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only of the date of this communication.
Belgacom disclaims any intention or obligation to update and revise any forwardlooking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise."
Group Financials
Executive summary – slide 4
Ray Stewart Group Revenue – slide 5 Mobile Service Revenue slide 6 Operating expenses - slide 7 EBITDA – slide 8 Capex – slide 9 FCF – slide 10 Financial Position – slide 11 Outlook – slide 12 P&L – slide 13 Balance sheet – slide 14
Strong Q2 financials: solid business performance and positive special items
Group revenue -0.9% versus Q2'13 Excluding capital gain on building sales and divesture impacts -1.1% like-for-like: − better Core Group revenue to -1.7% YoY − BICS revenue recovery to +0.5% YoY € 1,568 m REVENUE* Group EBITDA: +14.3% YoY Ex. Special items for € 65m, –0.9% like-for-like good progress in the Consumer and Business segment results driven by improved revenue trends and lower operating expenses € 491 m EBITDA* € 245 m Capex capitalisation of the acquired 3-yr broadcasting rights of the Belgian Jupiler Pro League football Network and IT investments as foreseen in Belgacom's strategy € 272 m € 225m more than for the same period of 2013
mainly due to: sale of consolidated companies, building sales, lower income tax payments (timing differences).
FCF
Q2 Group revenue reflecting trend improvement for CBU & EBU, like-for-like. BICS revenue stable YoY
Group mobile service revenue trend improving on continued Mobile recovery
- +169,000 Mobile customers added YoY in total
- Churn levels under control:
- EBU Mobile churn @ 9.8% in Q2'14
- CBU Mobile churn @ 25.7% in Q2'14, Postpaid @ 14.0%
- Increased data usage
- Improving customers tiering
- Fading impact from re-pricing continued
Implementation of 'Fit for Growth' strategy showing in good cost control
Quarterly Non-HR expenses (€ million)
• Deconsolidation of Telindus France
Consumer Segment favorably impacted by :
- continued focus on cost efficiency
- lower interconnection costs
- lowered Mobile Termination Rates in Luxbrg
- Partly offset by higher CoS within EBU and BICS
- About half of the decline comes from cost efficiency efforts
Additional support from:
- Telindus France divestment
- One-off provision withdrawal following the settlement of litigation provision
- HR expenses down -1.1% like-for-like in Q2'14
Additional support from:
- divesture-driven decline of -1,032 FTEs
- net positive HR one-off effect
- accounting alignment of capitalized manpower
Group Ebitda benefitting from building sales and improving underlying trend for CBU and EBU
Q2 2014 (in mio €)
H1 2014 (in mio €)
€ 425 million invested so far in 2014
3-year Belgian football broadcasting rights recorded as capex in Q2
Q2'14 investments € 68m higher YoY :
- Accelerated network & IT investments in line with announced Network and Simplification strategy
-
Capitalisation of the acquired 3-year broadcasting rights of the Belgian Jupiler Pro League football
-
Access networks
- IT and systems
- Convergence services
- Brand image and includes Belgian Jupiler Pro League football
Group Capex (in € mio )
Q2'14 FCF of € 272m; bringing ytd June '14 FCF to € 391m
Belgacom generated € 391 m of FCF in H1'14, or € +255 m YoY. Main drivers for the FCF increase are :
- cash received from the sale of consolidated companies
- cash received from the sale of buildings
- lower income tax payments (including timing differences)
Slide 10
Sound financial position
- Net financial debt at € 1,981m, € 166m higher versus end 2013
- The outstanding long term financial gross debt amounted to € 2.5Bio
- Credit ratings: Standard & Poor's A; Moody's A1 both stable outlook
FY'14 EBITDA expectations raised on sound business trends and some higher than expected positive one-offs in H1'14
| Reported FY '13 |
Reported H1 '14 |
Initial Guidance FY '14 |
New Guidance FY '14 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group revenue |
6,318 | |||
| business Core (excl . BICS & Telindus FR) |
4 410 , |
-0.8% | Decline between -1% and -2% |
Decline between -1% and -2% |
| Telindus France |
242 | |||
| BICS | 1 666 , |
-7.0% | Decline between -10% and -15% |
Decline between -5% and -10% |
| Group EBITDA | 1,713 | |||
| Group EBITDA excl . Telindus FR |
1 702 , |
+4.2% | Decline between -3% and -4% |
Decline between -1% and -2% |
| Telindus France |
11 | |||
| Capex | € 425m |
Around € 900 m |
Around € 960 m |
The EBITDA guidance takes into account the positive impact from the accounting alignment on customer installation activities applicable as of January 2014, with a full-year impact of about EUR 20 million. By year-end, this will be offset by an exceptional spending for about the same amount related to the company's transformation project and rebranding. The vast majority of the rebranding budget will be spent in the second half of 2014. Slide 12
Group – quarterly P&L
| in mio € | Q113 | Q213 | YTD Jun |
Q313 Restated |
Q413 | FY13 | Q114 | Q214 | YTD Jun |
VAR Q2/Q2 |
VAR YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenues (1) | 1,586 | 1,583 | 3,168 | 1,568 | 1,582 | 6,318 | 1,480 | 1,568 | 3,048 | -0.9% | -3.8% |
| Total OPEX Costs of materials and charges to revenues Personnel expenses and pensions Other operating expenses |
-1,144 -637 -290 -218 |
-1,153 -645 -283 -225 |
-2,297 -1,282 -572 -443 |
-1,140 -636 -288 -216 |
-1,168 -643 -282 -244 |
-4,605 -2,561 -1,142 -903 |
-1,068 -575 -278 -215 |
-1,077 -620 -255 -202 |
-2,145 -1,195 -534 -416 |
-6.6% -3.8% -9.6% -10.6% |
-6.6% -6.8% -6.7% -6.0% |
| EBITDA (1) | 441 | 430 | 871 | 428 | 413 | 1,713 | 412 | 491 | 904 | 14.3% | 3.7% |
| EBITDA margin (1) | 27.8% | 27.2% | 27.5% | 27.3% | 26.1% | 27.1% | 27.8% | 31.3% | 29.6% | ||
| Non recurring items | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -15 | -14 | - 1 |
6 5 |
6 4 |
- | - |
| Depreciation | -192 | -200 | -392 | -197 | -193 | -782 | -196 | -207 | -403 | 3.3% | 2.8% |
| EBIT (incl. NR) | 250 | 230 | 479 | 232 | 206 | 917 | 215 | 350 | 565 | 52.2% | 17.9% |
| Financial result Tax expense |
-20 -53 |
-24 -44 |
-45 -97 |
-27 -44 |
-24 -29 |
-96 -170 |
-23 -40 |
-20 -66 |
-43 -105 |
-16.6% 48.6% |
-3.7% 8.2% |
| Net income (Group) Non-controlling interest |
171 5 |
155 6 |
326 1 1 |
156 6 |
148 4 |
630 22 |
149 4 |
251 1 2 |
400 1 6 |
61.5% - |
22.5% - |
| Earnings/share in € Earnings/share in € (excl. NR) |
0.54 0.54 |
0.49 0.49 |
1.02 1.02 |
0.49 0.49 |
0.47 0.51 |
1.98 2.02 |
0.47 0.47 |
0.78 0.61 |
1.25 1.09 |
60.0% 25.1% |
22.2% 6.1% |
(1) before non-recurring items
Belgacom consolidated balance sheet
| As of 31 December | As of 30 June | |
|---|---|---|
| (EUR million) | 2013 | 2014 |
| ASSETS | ||
| NON-CURRENT ASSETS | 6,254 | 6,222 |
| Goodwill | 2,320 | 2,294 |
| Intangible assets with finite useful life | 1,185 | 1,160 |
| Property, plant and equipment | 2,558 | 2,570 |
| Investments in associates | 6 | 3 |
| Other participating interests Deferred income tax assets |
6 105 |
12 87 |
| Other non-current assets | 74 | 96 |
| CURRENT ASSETS | 2,163 | 2,152 |
| Inventories | 163 | 140 |
| Trade receivables | 1,289 | 1,200 |
| Current tax assets | 137 | 111 |
| Other current assets | 148 | 170 |
| Investments | 60 | 9 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 355 | 521 |
| Assets classified as held for sale | 11 | 0 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | 8,417 | 8,373 |
| LIABILITIES AND EQUITY | ||
| EQUITY | 3,042 | 2,909 |
| Shareholders' equity | 2,846 | 2,731 |
| Issued capital | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Treasury shares | -527 | -506 |
| Restricted reserve | 100 | 100 |
| Remeasurement reserve Stock compensation |
-51 13 |
-49 11 |
| Retained earnings | 2,310 | 2,174 |
| Foreign currency translation | 1 | 0 |
| Non-controlling interests | 196 | 178 |
| NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES | 2,865 | 3,385 |
| Interest-bearing liabilities | 1,950 | 2,549 |
| Liability for pensions, other post-employment benefits and termination benefits | 473 | 425 |
| Provisions | 204 | 184 |
| Deferred income tax liabilities | 128 | 118 |
| Other non-current payables | 111 | 109 |
| CURRENT LIABILITIES | 2,511 | 2,079 |
| Interest-bearing liabilities | 316 | 2 |
| Trade payables | 1,320 | 1,262 |
| Tax payables | 132 | 126 |
| Other current payables Liabilities associated with assets classified as held for sale |
731 13 |
688 0 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY | 8,417 | 8,373 |
All balance sheet captions impacted by disposal of Group Telindus France:
-
Decrease of goodwill by € 28m
-
Intangible fixed assets & property, plant & equipment decreased € 13m
Shareholders' equity decreased from € 2,846m end 2013 to € 2,731m end June 2014. This mainly results from the 2013 dividend payment of € 537m typically exceeding the net income generated over H1'14.
Consumer Business Group Operationals Q2'14
Mobile & Fixed overview – slide 16 Operational Household reporting – slide 17 Financial Household reporting – slide 18
Continued solid commercial traction
- Growing Mobile, TV and Fixed Internet customer base
Continued mobile customer growth +Tango 23 39 5 5 5 2 5,422 5,445 5,484 5,539 5,591 Q2'13 Q3'13 Q4'13 Q1'14 Q2'14 net adds total -71 -5 8 -48 -67 -46 33 20 21 33 22 5 9 18 33 25 25 -79.0. -59.0. -39.0. Q2'13 Q3'13 Q4'13 Q1'14 Q2'14 Postpaid Paying cards Postpaid Free Data Cards Prepaid 22 -21 6 -10 2 20 26 11 31 32 4 8 15 25 8 8 6 6 7 5 30. 0. 40. 0. 70. 0. Q2'13 Q3'13 Q4'13 Q1'14 Q2'14 Free Data Cards M2M Paying cards (other than M2M) 32 39 64 31 45 +52,000 Mobile customers of which +98,000 Postpaid & -46,000 Prepaid
Good Fixed Internet net adds in commercial slower quarter
5 7
Solid TV net adds continued
Successful retention actions reduced fixed voice line erosion
Good progress in convergence strategy - Operational drivers x-play Household reporting
CBU Households per x-play: net adds of the quarter (in '000)
Annualized full churn rate of a x-play Household
- 55% of HH are multi-play , +2.5 p.p. yoy
- convergence success especially showing in +14% 4-play HH , at very low churn
- multi-play convergent household, i.e. Fixed + Mobile, grew 3.4pp to 50.1%.
- 1-play HH going down as result of Fixed Voice line erosion
Stable revenue from households - higher ARPU & RGUs offsetting loss in 1-play
Average Revenue per x-play Househould (ARPH) in €
- € 374m came from X-play households
- 74% from multi-play HH +3.2 p.p. YoY
- RGU progressed for all X-play HH
- 4-play HH revenue +15.3% YoY due to growing number of 4-play HH and YoY increase in ARPH to € 103.9
- 4-play revenue growth offset by lower revenue from 1-play and 2-play
Network
Ray Stewart Mobile – slide 20 Fixed – slide 21
Proximus delivering on its brand Customer experience as TOP priority
PROXIMUS focuses on bringing best overall average speed experience to its customers across sum of 2G, 3G, 4G technologies selected by devices. This approach mirrors best the true experience of customers.
30% faster average download speed experience with a 4G capable device vs nearest competition
Leverage mobile experience through wifi
- 930.000 WiFi hotspots available today for our customers all throughout Belgium (+90.000 vs Q1)
- 13.200.000 WiFi hotspots available abroad (e.g. NL, FR, UK, DE,…)
- By EO 2014, mobile devices of Proximus customers will connect automatically to WiFi when present, bringing true convergence Slide 20
Fixed Network - Driving customer experience with new technologies
Q2 2014 results per business unit
Consumer Business Unit (CBU) Enterprise Business Unit (EBU) Service Delivery Engine &Wholesale (SDE&W) Staff and Support (S&S) Belgacom International Carries Services (BICS)
Consumer Business Unit
Consumer - quarterly P&L
Yoy variance on reported figures
Like-for-like yoy variance (excl. impact from divestures Scarlet NL & Sahara Net and one-offs)
Q2'14 Revenue -2.4% lower YoY or -1.8% like-for-like
- Like-for-like is excl. € -3m impact from divestures of Scarlet NL & Sahara Net; in addition est. regulation impact of €-6m (-1.0%)
- Continued fixed Internet and TV revenue growth, offset by lower Voice revenue
- Mobile: Increased terminals sales & stable decline in service revenue
- Q2' 14 Cost of Sales 7.1% lower YoY
- Positive trend from last quarters continued
- Besides regulation (lower MTR in Luxembourg) , the positive impact comes from lower interconnection costs and focus on cost efficiency
- CBU expenses positively impacted by accounting alignment for capitalisation of network installation activities & net pos. impact from HR one-offs; and driven by continued cost optimisation:
- Q2' 14 HR costs: -6.5% YoY
- Q2' 14 non-HR costs: -8.1% YoY
- Q2' 14 segment result +3.7% YoY or -0.6% like-for-like
- Compared to a -3.0% like-for-like decline in Q1'14
- Like-for-like is excl. accounting alignment for capitalisation of network installation activities & positive net impact from HR one-offs
- Improvement in Direct Margin &Cost reduction efforts
- Regulation impact estimated at € -4m (-1.5%)
CBU revenues per product group
- Q2'14 revenue -1.8% like-for-like; improving from -2.9% for Q1
Q2 2014 (in mio €)
Consumer - Fixed voice
Line erosion pressured revenue, stable Fixed Voice ARPU; pro-active churn management results in slowing customer loss
The declining Fixed Voice revenue resulted from the YoY line loss and to a lesser extent from the substitution of fixed traffic to mobile.
- Q2'14 Fixed line erosion of -13,000 lines, an improvement versus the prior quarters driven by pro-active churn mgmt.
- End June'14, the CBU Fixed Voice customer base totaled 1,602,000 lines, i.e. -4.3% yoy.
- Stable Fixed Voice ARPU
Consumer – Mobile Service
As expected stable decline in Mobile service revenue sustained; Mobile customer base growing
* Yoy variance adjusted for one-offs
- Q2'14 revenue from Mobile Services down 7% YoY; as expected stable decline from previous quarter despite competitive intensity.
- Growing mobile postpaid customer base
- Lower mobile prepaid customer base
-
Stabilized decline in ARPU
-
CBU's total Mobile customer base end-June'14 numbered 3,566,000 cards
- Firm net addition of 48,000 postpaid cards ; of which 25,000 paying in line with prior quarter
- Mobile Prepaid decline of -45,000 during Q2, of which -11,000 from mvno Mobisud. Proximus prepaid customer losses further improving.
Blended net mobile ARPU (EUR/month) & YoY Variance ***As of 2014, the calculation of active customers is based on the monthly activity rate instead of a rolling average activity rate. The definition of an active customer remains unchanged. 2013 figures have been adjusted accordingly
ARPU erosion stabilized
- Q2'14 Postpaid ARPU of € 26.7; -4.6% YoY; from -4.8% in Q1'14
- Q2'14 Prepaid ARPU of € 12.6; 10.3% YoY; from -11.1% in Q1 '14
**As of 2014, Belgacom calculates the Mobile ARPU excluding Free Mobile data cards and excluding M2M. 2013 figures have been restated.
Consumer - Fixed Internet
Continued Fixed Internet revenue growth; +11,000 customers added in the quarter
Revenue growth driven by growing customer base and price changes.
- Broadband customer base +11,000 in Q2'14, in a seasonally slower quarter
- Total CBU Fixed Internet customer base of 1,261,000 end-June'14.
- Broadband ARPU of EUR 26.3, slightly down YoY due to increasing number of internet customers in Pack.
Slide 28
Belgacom TV
Growing TV revenue through larger TV customer base & slight YoY ARPU increase
TV revenue +7.1% YoY driven by continued growth of subscribers
- Continued customer growth
- Total customer base of 1,525,000, including 281,000 multiple streams
- 30,000 net adds: +19,000 new unique customers, 11,000 multiple streams
*As of 2014, pending orders are excluded from the total TV customer base. Q4 2013 TV customer figures have been restated accordingly. There is no impact on the 2013 quarterly net adds and the 2013 ARPU's TV ARPU (EUR/month) & YoY Variance
Q2 TV ARPU of € 19 , i.e. +2.1% YoY
Tango Luxembourg Impacted by regulated MTR reduction
- Q2 '14 revenue -12.6% YoY, generating € 28m.
- The regulated MTR decrease in Luxembourg (from 8.2cts to 0.98cts) taking full effect in Q2'14 ( € 4m)
- Could not be offset by the continued growth of Mobile Postpaid and the developing TV & fixed Internet customer base.
- Belgacom extended its convergence strategy to Tango, which now also offers as well a TV and quadruple-play offer.
Enterprise Business Unit
Enterprise – quarterly P&L
Yoy variance on reported figures
Like-for-like yoy variance (excl. impact from Telindus France divesture and one-offs)
- Q2'14 revenue impacted by Telindus France divestment
- Like-for-like EBU's revenue decline improved to -0.6%,
- Mobile services only slightly below Q2'13 & organic ICT up yoy
- Regulation impact estimated at € -5m (-1%)
- H1'14 € 1,051 m revenue, -5.1% YoY or -1.7% like-for-like
- Telindus France divesture lowered Cost of Sales
- Divesture of Telindus France excluded, the Cost of Sales were up driven by higher organic ICT sales and Mobile subscriber acquisition costs, resulting in a strong net customer growth for Q2'14
- Lower expenses , supported by Telindus France divesture
- Q2'14 HR- expenses -17.8% yoy to € 87m. The divesture effect excluded, HR expenses were down yoy on net positive one-off effects, restructuring of Telindus UK and lower headcount in general
- Q2'14 non-HR expenses, -7.2% yoy to € 34m mainly because of the Telindus France divesture
- Q2'14 EBU segment result -1.8% yoy, or -2.3% like-for-like
- Continued trend improvement from the previous quarters
- Regulatory impact estimated at € -5 m (-2.1%).
- Ex-regulation, segment result fairly stable: lower yoy Direct margin nearly offset by lower expenses
- Q2'14 margin benefitted from divesture of lower-margin Telindus France
Enterprise revenue evolution per product group
Reported variance impacted by divesture Telindus France Like-for-like variance improving on better mobile & organic ICT revenue
H1 2014 (in mio €)
Enterprise - Fixed Voice*
Stable Fixed voice revenue decline
- Fixed Voice line erosion triggered by companies rationalising on Fixed line connections continues to impact Fixed Voice revenue. This negative volume effect was only partly compensated for by price indexations.
- Year-to-date June '14, EBU reported € 226m Fixed Voice revenue, 3.2% below the preceding year
- The Fixed Line erosion in Q2'14 was limited to -13,000 lines, bringing the EBU total Fixed Voice Line customer base to 1,264,000 by end-June 2014, a 4.1% line loss on a yearly basis.
- Line loss was partly compensated for by a somewhat higher Fixed Voice ARPU of EUR 29.1, up 1.5% yoy a result of the price indexation.
Enterprise - Mobile Service
Mobile Service revenue trend significantly improved through larger customer base, growing mobile data volume and slowing ARPU decline
* Yoy variance adjusted for one-offs
- Q2'14 Mobile services revenue trend continued significant improvement
- Continuously growing mobile customer base and successful acquisitions in mid- and high-end pricing plans
- Higher Data roaming volumes
- Regulation impact, estimated at € -5 m
- Ytd June '14, € 275m mobile service revenue, -2.8% yoy * *
- Solid commercial performance continued in Q2'2014: net growth of +45,000 mobile cards
- +32,000 paying mobile voice and data cards (vs. +31,000 in Q1'14) driven by great mobile network experience for customers, successful Bizz Packs and launch mid-February of the Smart 50
- +13,000 Machine-to-Machine and free Mobile Data cards
*As of 2014, the calculation of active customers is based on the monthly activity rate instead of a rolling average activity rate. The definition of an active customer remains unchanged. 2013 figures have been updated accordingly
Mobile ARPU decline slowed to -7.4% YoY for Q2'14
- showing further improvement from the prior quarter.
- effect from mobile customer re-pricing fading
- a growing number of high-end pricing plans in the installed base through successful acquisition actions in that price segment, as well as better retention of high-value customers.
*As of 2014, Belgacom calculates the Mobile ARPU excluding Free Mobile data cards and excluding M2M. 2013 figures have been restated.
Enterprise - Fixed Data
Fixed Data revenue continued to be impacted by migrations to Explore platform; Fixed Internet revenue stable supported by higher ARPU
- Fixed Data, consisting of Fixed Internet and data connectivity revenue, -2.2% YoY
- due to a continued migration from older technologies such as leased lines to the Belgacom Explore platform, for which pricing is more favorable for customers
- Revenue from Fixed Internet stable yoy on fairly stable customer base and slightly higher ARPU
- Customer base +0.3% compared with June 2013.
-
EBU added a stable 1,000 Fixed Internet customers in Q2'14, leading to a total customer base of 443,000.
-
ARPU of € 39.7 (+0.9%) driven by price indexations,
- partly offset by SME customers opting more and more for advantageous converged Packs including internet.
*As of 1 January 2014, revenue from PABX is included in ICT. The 2013 figures have been restated accordingly. Previously PABX revenue was reported as part of Fixed Terminals.
Enterprise – ICT*
ICT revenue impacted by divestment of Telindus France Like-for-like, revenue up by 2.9% vs last year
- EBU reported € 153m ICT revenue
- Telindus France divestment impacted yoy variance
- Organically ICT revenue grew by 2.9% yoy
- Belux ICT revenue showed YoY growth
Q312 Q412 Q113 Q213 Q313 Q413 Q114 Q214
On Telindus France:
- On 30 April 2014, Belgacom disposed 100% of the shares in the Group Telindus France to Vivendi for EUR 86 million net of cash disposed of and recognized a gain on disposal of EUR 43 million (through non-recurring income).
- The Group Telindus France generated pro-forma revenues of € 241m and EBITDA of € 11m in 2013.
0.0%
livery & Wholesale Service Delivery & Wholesale - P&L – P&L
- Lower Carrier Wholesale Services revenue
- new lowered Wholesale roaming tariffs
- only partly compensated for by the volume growth for roaming
- continued erosion of wholesale broadband lines, leased lines and traffic volumes
-
CoS Q2'14 -6.1%
-
€ 40m HR expenses for Q2'14, -1.0% YoY on lower headcount
- € 38m non-HR expenses; down 27.3% YoY mainly due to a favorable one-off provision reversal; also lower external workforce costs, maintenance cost optimization
- Q2'14 segment result improved YoY partly due to positive one-off provision reversal.
- Like-for-like segment result improved by 5.4% YoY in spite of increasing pressured wholesale revenue
* 2013 figures have been restated to reflect the allocation of Belgacom wholesale revenues invoiced to Scarlet to the Consumer Business Unit segment.
Staff & Support – P&L
- Q2'14 revenue of € 64m, including a EUR 46 million capital gain following the completion of 2014 planned building sales within the network simplification project and a litigation settlement (EBITDA neutral).
- Like-for-like, the revenue of S&S was stable year-on-year.
- HR-expenses lower as result of lower personnel base
Non-HR expenses impacted by litigation settlement (EBITDA neutral)
International Carrier Services – P&L
- Q2 BICS' revenue stable on recovery of voice traffic
- trend improvement from the previous quarter (14% down year-onyear), underlining the volatility of part of BICS' business.
- driven by material win backs of voice traffic from key customers
- more than offset by the effect of EU-wide decreases in Mobile Termination rates, as well as a negative dollar effect
- -4.4% YoY decline in Gross margin
-
reflects the lower volume of higher-margin Voice traffic to the Asian region which BICS temporarily captured in 2013.
-
As a consequence of the lower Direct margin & slightly higher operating expenses (HR/Non-HR), BICS' segment result for Q2'14 was down by EUR 3 million (-8.9%), while the EBITDA margin remained fairly stable at 8.1%.
- Voice volumes +8.3% YoY
- Non-Voice volumes +26.4% YoY
For further information:
Belgacom Investor Relations e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +32 2 202 82 41