19/07/24 09:35

Financial news

Solid revenue growth and strong EBITDAaL performance in H1 2024, EBITDAaL guidance improved

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Press release

Financial information for the first semester 2024

Solid revenue growth and strong EBITDAaL performance

EBITDAaL guidance improved

 

  • Mobile postpaid customer base +4.5 % yoy
  • Cable customer base +4.5% yoy
  • H1 Revenues +2.5% comparable1 change yoy
  • H1 EBITDAaL +13.9% comparable1 change yoy

 

 

Operational Highlights
  • The company delivers a solid commercial performance
  • The market experienced intensified competition in both mobile and broadband
  • Mobile postpaid customer base increased by 74k, thanks to competitive positioning of our brands portfolio, and progressive activation of the Flemish Government service contract, bringing total subscribers to 3.4m (+4.5% yoy)
  • Cable customer base increased by 18k, with an ending base exceeding 1 million customers (+4.5% yoy)

 

Orange Belgium: key operating figures

reported

comparable

 

reported

comparable

 

H1 2023

H1 2023

H1 2024

change

change

Mobile postpaid customer base (in ‘000)

2 850

3 249

3 393

19.1%

4.5%

Net adds (in ‘000)

39

57

74

88.7%

30.1%

Cable customer base (in ‘000)

464

961

1 004

116.4%

4.5%

Net adds (in ‘000)

21

25

18

-16.0%

-29.8%

 

Financial Highlights
  • Total revenues reached €977.6m, increasing by +2.5% mainly thanks to an increase in retail service revenues
  • EBITDAaL increased by +13.9% due to service revenue growth and a strong contribution from synergies, notably the migration of VOO mobile customers to the Orange network. Additionally, successful litigations and some seasonal cost effects improved this result
  • eCapex grew by +7.2% to €180.1m, mainly explained by network deployment plans both in mobile and fixed

 

Orange Belgium Group: key financial figures

reported

comparable

 

reported

comparable

in €m

H1 2023

H1 2023

H1 2024

change

change

Revenues

740.5

953.6

977.6

32.0%

2.5%

Retail service revenues

532.1

766.7

794.2

49.2%

3.6%
   

 

 

 

 

EBITDAaL

178.8

221.9

252.9

41.5%

13.9%

EBITDAal margin as % of revenues

24.1%

23.3%

25.9%

173 bp

261 bp

eCapex2

-109.2

-168.0

-180.1

64.9%

7.2%

Adjusted Operating cash flow3

69.6

53.9

72.8

4.7%

35.2%

Net Cash provided by operating activities

177.9

 

279.6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net profit (loss) for the period

-15.4

 

-17.7

14.8%

 

Net financial debt

2 115.5

 

1 907.0

 

 

Total borrowings

2 231.6

 

1 952.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  1. Comparable base includes VOO Revenues, eCapex and EBITDAaL and Adjusted Operating cash flow with interco elimination
  2. eCapex excluding licence fees
  3. Adjusted Operating cash flow defined as EBITDAaL – eCapex excluding licence fees

 

Xavier Pichon, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

We are thrilled with the good commercial dynamics we are delivering across both fixed and mobile segments. We even surpassed the milestone of 1 million broadband customers. Thanks to the rapid and successful integration of VOO within Orange Belgium, we have been able to deliver these positive results, demonstrating the strength and synergy of our combined operations. The teams’ excellent work made this outcome possible.

The market landscape is continually evolving, and we stay agile and responsive to maintain our momentum. The new portfolio that we launched in July is a strategic step forward, designed to further foster commercial dynamism and drive growth.

In our B2B activities, the gradual activation of our customer Flemish Government has also played a pivotal role in influencing these positive commercial results.

Overall, these developments position us well for sustained success, and we remain committed to leveraging our strengths to achieve our strategic goals.

 

Antoine Chouc, Chief Financial Officer, stated:

We are very pleased with our good financial performance this semester, which is largely driven by the realisation of the synergies and most of all through the transfer of the VOO customers to the Orange mobile network. The results were also impacted positively thanks to the benefit from winning litigations and seasonal effects. We have seen a positive impact from the year-over-year changes in energy prices, which has further bolstered our performance.

Additionally, we have taken this opportunity to increase our investments in both fixed and mobile segments, laying a solid foundation for future growth.

Our synergy initiatives are progressing well and remain on track, reflecting our ongoing commitment to optimizing operations and maximizing value creation. These efforts are essential as we continue to navigate a dynamic market environment and pursue our long-term objectives.

We are now confident that we will improve our guidance for EBITDAaL and slightly exceed €535m for the year (previously between €515m and €535m), while also adhering to our capex targets (between €365m and €385m).