Liberty Global Reports Third Quarter 2018 Results
November 7, 2018
Record Q3 RGU additions at Virgin Media, driven by 104,000 net adds
in the U.K.
Q3 continuing operations operating income of $209 million
Q3 continuing operations rebased OCF growth of 5.2% led by Belgium &
U.K.
Reconfirming all full-year 2018 guidance
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Q3 Continuing Operations
Revenue
& YoY Growth4
$3.0bn | +1.9%
OCF & YoY Growth4
$1.3bn | +5.2%
YTD Continuing Operations
Revenue
& YoY Growth4
$9.1bn | +2.4%
OCF & YoY Growth4
$3.9bn | +3.6%
Full Company 1
Q3
OCF & YoY Growth4
$1.8bn | +5.3%
YTD OCF & YoY Growth4
$5.7bn | +4.6%
DENVER, Colorado–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Liberty Global plc today announced its three months (“Q3”) and nine
months (“YTD”) 2018 financial results. Our operations in Germany,
Austria, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic (collectively, the
“Discontinued European Operations”) and the former LiLAC Group have been
accounted for as discontinued operations. Unless otherwise indicated,
the information in this release relates only to our continuing
operations. As used in this release, the term “Full Company” includes
our continuing operations and the Discontinued European Operations. For
additional information, including the reasons that we present selected
information on a Full Company basis, see note 1. In addition, on January
1, 2018, we adopted new revenue recognition rules on a prospective basis
and a new presentation of certain components of our pension expense on a
retrospective basis. All information in this release is presented on a
comparable basis with respect to both of these accounting changes. For
additional information concerning our discontinued operations and these
accounting changes, see notes 2 and 3.
CEO Mike Fries stated, “The continued operating and financial
momentum at Virgin Media helped fuel our Q3 results. With respect to our
U.K. subscriber growth, we generated over 100,000 net additions, which
represents a record third quarter performance. This achievement was
supported by strong volume growth in both our Project Lightning and
legacy footprints. From a product perspective, we continue to reap the
benefits of our next-generation V6 set-top box and Hub 3 WiFi router
deployments, as we saw meaningful year-over-year improvement in churn.
We also announced a 4.5% average U.K. customer price rise, which should
underpin our results in the coming quarters. In our other markets, we
reported mixed results as Telenet delivered 8.4% rebased OCF growth in
the quarter, driven by synergy realization, while we posted a 9% rebased
OCF contraction in Switzerland.
| 2018 Guidance* |
Rebased
OCF Growth |
P&E
Additions |
New Build
& Upgrade |
Adjusted Free |
|||||||||
| Continuing Operations | ~4% | $4.0 BN | $0.8 BN | Not provided | |||||||||
| Full Company | ~5% | $5.1 BN | $1.2 BN | $1.6 BN |
* Absolute U.S. dollar guidance figures based on FX rates as of
February 13, 2018; EUR/USD 1.23; GBP/USD 1.38. New build and upgrade
spend excludes related CPE
“The Swiss market remains challenging but we have a number of
initiatives that we believe will improve performance. Our turnaround
plan is underpinned by revamped video products, a refreshed MySports
programming line-up, the launch of 1 Gig broadband speeds and a new and
improved MVNO offering. The cornerstone of our enhanced video offering
is the introduction of Horizon 4, our cutting-edge, next-generation TV
entertainment platform, which will revolutionize the video experience
for our customers. Switzerland is the first market where we’ve launched
this innovation and we look forward to expanding the platform across
more markets in the coming years.
Our previously announced deal to sell our German and certain CEE
operations to Vodafone remains on track. Last month, Vodafone officially
filed the submission paperwork with the European Union and we still
expect that the deal will close in mid-2019.
Turning to our balance sheet, at the end of Q3 our continuing operations
had an average debt tenor5 of more than seven years, a
fully-swapped borrowing cost of 4.3% and a liquidity6
position in excess of $3 billion. During the quarter we bought back
nearly $400 million of stock and continue to anticipate at least $2
billion of share repurchases in 2018.”
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) is the world’s largest
international TV and broadband company, with operations in 10 European
countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet
and UPC. We invest in the infrastructure and digital platforms that
empower our customers to make the most of the video, internet and
communications revolution. Our substantial scale and commitment to
innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered
through next-generation networks that connect 21 million customers
subscribing to 45 million TV, broadband internet and telephony services.
We also serve 6 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service
through 12 million access points across our footprint.*
In addition, Liberty Global owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a joint venture
in the Netherlands with 4 million customers subscribing to 10 million
fixed-line and 5 million mobile services, as well as significant
investments in ITV, All3Media, ITI Neovision, Casa Systems, LionsGate,
the Formula E racing series and several regional sports networks.
* The figures included in this paragraph include both the continuing
and discontinued operations that we owned on September 30, 2018
YTD and Q3 Highlights (on a continuing
operations basis unless otherwise noted)
-
YTD and Q3 rebased revenue up 2.4% and 1.9%, respectively
-
Q3 residential cable revenue7 of $2.0 billion decreased
0.7% year-over-year -
Q3 residential mobile revenue7 increased 2.4%
year-over-year to $416.8 million -
Q3 B2B8 revenue7 increased 6.1%
year-over-year to $491.8 million
-
Q3 residential cable revenue7 of $2.0 billion decreased
-
YTD operating income decreased 4.8% year-over-year to $592.9 million
- Q3 operating income decreased 1.0% year-over-year to $208.6 million
-
YTD rebased OCF growth was 3.6% to $3.9 billion, including 5.2% growth
in Q3-
YTD results supported by strong performances in Belgium and Virgin
Media
-
YTD results supported by strong performances in Belgium and Virgin
- RGU additions of 28,000 in Q3
-
Built nearly 150,000 new premises in Q3
- Virgin Media delivered 109,000 new premises in the U.K. & Ireland
- Solid balance sheet with $3.4 billion of liquidity
- Net leverage9 of 4.9x for the Full Company
- Fully-swapped borrowing cost of 4.3%
|
Subscribers |
||||||||||||||||||
| Organic RGU Net Additions10 | 28,100 | (51.0 | %) | 28,500 | (87.3 | %) | ||||||||||||
|
Financial (in USD millions) |
||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||||||||||||
| Continuing operations | $ | 2,958.1 | 1.9 | % | $ | 9,097.7 | 2.4 | % | ||||||||||
| OCF: | ||||||||||||||||||
| Continuing operations | $ | 1,294.1 | 5.2 | % | $ | 3,875.7 | 3.6 | % | ||||||||||
| Full Company(ii) | 5.3 | % | 4.6 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Operating income | $ | 208.6 | (1.0 | %) | $ | 592.9 | (4.8 | %) | ||||||||||
| Adjusted FCF: | ||||||||||||||||||
| Continuing operations | $ | 165.3 | $ | (962.6 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Pro forma continuing operations(iii) | $ | 244.8 | $ | (746.9 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Full Company | $ | 394.6 | $ | (15.7 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Cash provided by operating activities | $ | 587.2 | $ | 2,730.1 | ||||||||||||||
| Cash provided by investing activities | $ | 1,687.1 | $ | 790.8 | ||||||||||||||
| Cash used by financing activities | $ | (2,388.8 | ) | $ | (5,426.3 | ) | ||||||||||||
| (i) | Revenue and OCF YoY growth rates are on a rebased basis | |
| (ii) |
Full Company rebased OCF growth in the Q3 and YTD periods includes the net positive impacts of certain German channel carriage settlements of $13.7 million and $36.9 million, respectively |
|
| (iii) |
Pro forma Adjusted FCF gives pro forma effect to certain increases in our recurring cash flows that we expect to realize following the disposition of the Discontinued European Operations. For additional details, see the information and reconciliation included within the Glossary |
|
Subscriber Growth
| Three months ended | Nine months ended | |||||||||||||||
| September 30, | September 30, | |||||||||||||||
| 2018 | 2017 | 2018* | 2017 | |||||||||||||
| Organic RGU net additions (losses) by product | ||||||||||||||||
| Video | (36,700 | ) | (29,100 | ) | (120,100 | ) | (55,300 | ) | ||||||||
| Data | 24,000 | 62,700 | 73,600 | 203,700 | ||||||||||||
| Voice | 40,800 | 23,800 | 75,000 | 76,300 | ||||||||||||
| Total | 28,100 | 57,400 | 28,500 | 224,700 | ||||||||||||
| Organic RGU net additions (losses) by market | ||||||||||||||||
| U.K./Ireland | 105,300 | 92,400 | 262,400 | 328,500 | ||||||||||||
| Belgium | (52,900 | ) | (14,600 | ) | (99,800 | ) | (41,900 | ) | ||||||||
| Switzerland | (41,500 | ) | (15,500 | ) | (139,000 | ) | (18,300 | ) | ||||||||
| Continuing CEE (Poland, Slovakia and DTH) | 17,200 | (4,900 | ) | 4,900 | (43,600 | ) | ||||||||||
| Total | 28,100 | 57,400 | 28,500 | 224,700 | ||||||||||||
| Organic Mobile SIM additions (losses) by product | ||||||||||||||||
| Postpaid | 54,800 | 67,000 | 248,700 | 240,700 | ||||||||||||
| Prepaid | (37,100 | ) | (27,600 | ) | (122,900 | ) | (193,500 | ) | ||||||||
| Total | 17,700 | 39,400 | 125,800 | 47,200 | ||||||||||||
| Organic Mobile SIM additions (losses) by market | ||||||||||||||||
| U.K./Ireland | 5,000 | (16,200 | ) | 50,900 | (20,300 | ) | ||||||||||
| Belgium | 4,500 | 43,400 | 52,600 | 43,800 | ||||||||||||
| Other | 8,200 | 12,200 | 22,300 | 23,700 | ||||||||||||
| Total | 17,700 | 39,400 | 125,800 | 47,200 | ||||||||||||
* Amounts have been restated. See note (vi) to the subscriber table
-
Cable Product Performance: During Q3 we
added 28,000 RGUs, a decline compared to the 57,000 RGUs added in the
prior-year period, as an improved performance at Virgin Media was
largely offset by weakness in Belgium and Switzerland. From a product
perspective, data and video adds showed a year-over-year decrease,
while telephony net adds increased year-over-year -
U.K./Ireland: Record Q3 RGU additions of
105,000 were 14% higher than the prior year, with contributions both
from our new build areas and our existing footprint. A shift in our
sales and marketing focus to high value triple-play bundles has
successfully driven growth in telephony, broadband and video product
subscriptions -
Belgium: RGU attrition of 53,000 in Q3
was primarily due to intensified competition and churn stemming from
our July price increase -
Switzerland: Lost 41,500 RGUs in Q3,
compared to a loss of 15,500 in Q3 2017, primarily due to heightened
competition -
Continuing CEE (Poland, Slovakia and DTH):
Gained 17,000 RGUs in Q3, as compared to a loss of 5,000 in the
prior-year period, mainly driven by stronger video and voice adds in
Poland -
Next-Generation Video Penetration (including
Horizon TV, Horizon-Lite, TiVo, Virgin TV V6 and Yelo TV):
Added 70,000 subscribers to our advanced platforms in Q3 and reached
6.7 million or 78% of our total cable video base (excluding DTH) by
the end of the quarter -
WiFi Connect Box: Deployments of our
latest WiFi Connect box increased by 552,000 in Q3, ending the quarter
with an installed base of nearly 5.6 million or 61% of broadband
subscribers across our continuing operations -
Mobile: Added 18,000 mobile subscribers
in Q3, as 55,000 postpaid additions were partially offset by continued
attrition in our low-ARPU prepaid base- Belgium added 4,500 mobile subscribers during Q3
-
U.K./Ireland added 5,000 mobile subscribers in Q3 as postpaid
growth was partially offset by low-ARPU prepaid losses. The
penetration of 4G at Virgin Media increased to 75% of our postpaid
base at the end of Q3, and over 50% of our mobile base has now
migrated to our full MVNO platform in the U.K. allowing us to
offer more converged bundles -
Switzerland added 8,000 mobile subscribers in Q3, driven by
bundling success
Revenue Highlights
The following table presents (i) revenue of each of our consolidated
reportable segments for the comparative periods and (ii) the percentage
change from period to period on both a reported and rebased basis:
| Three months ended | Increase/(decrease) | Nine months ended | Increase/(decrease) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| September 30, | September 30, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | 2018 | 20173 | % | Rebased % | 2018 | 20173 | % | Rebased % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| in millions, except % amounts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Continuing operations: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| U.K./Ireland | $ | 1,667.7 | $ | 1,609.9 | 3.6 | 4.1 | $ | 5,180.8 | $ | 4,676.2 | 10.8 | 4.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Belgium | 746.8 | 758.7 | (1.6 | ) | (1.5 | ) | 2,260.3 | 2,103.5 | 7.5 | (1.2 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Switzerland | 323.3 | 351.7 | (8.1 | ) | (6.3 | ) | 1,000.4 | 1,020.7 | (2.0 | ) | (3.2 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Continuing CEE | 148.6 | 149.9 | (0.9 | ) | 1.0 | 462.0 | 426.2 | 8.4 | 0.8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Central and Corporate | 71.9 | 53.0 | 35.7 | 31.7 | 197.4 | 137.8 | 43.3 | 31.7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Intersegment eliminations | (0.2 | ) | (3.0 | ) | N.M. |
N.M. |
(3.2 | ) | (8.3 | ) | N.M. | N.M. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total continuing operations | $ | 2,958.1 | $ | 2,920.2 | 1.3 | 1.9 | $ | 9,097.7 | $ | 8,356.1 | 8.9 | 2.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discontinued European Operations(i): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Germany | $ | 714.4 | $ | 685.5 | 4.2 | 5.1 | $ | 2,226.1 | $ | 1,943.7 | 14.5 | 6.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Austria | 35.2 | 103.2 | (65.9 | ) | 3.0 | 253.7 | 291.9 | (13.1 | ) | 3.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discontinued CEE | 159.6 | 156.6 | 1.9 | 5.4 | 494.7 | 439.4 | 12.6 | 5.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Intersegment eliminations | (1.0 | ) | (0.9 | ) | N.M. | N.M. | (4.4 | ) | (2.6 | ) | N.M. | N.M. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total discontinued European operations | $ | 908.2 | $ | 944.4 | (3.8 | ) | 5.3 | $ | 2,970.1 | $ | 2,672.4 | 11.1 | 6.2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
N.M. – Not Meaningful
(i) For information concerning our discontinued operations,
see note 2.
-
Reported revenue for the three and nine months ended September 30,
2018, increased 1.3% and 8.9% year-over-year, respectively-
The YTD results were primarily driven by the impact of (i)
positive foreign exchange (“FX”) movements, mainly related to the
strengthening of the British Pound and Euro against the U.S.
dollar, and (ii) organic revenue growth
-
The YTD results were primarily driven by the impact of (i)
-
Rebased revenue grew 1.9% and 2.4% in the Q3 and YTD 2018 periods,
respectively. The result in the YTD period included:-
A $6.4 million headwind from the release of unclaimed customer
credits in Switzerland in H1 2017 -
A $5.6 million headwind from the expected recovery of VAT paid in
prior periods with respect to copyright fees in Belgium, which
benefited revenue in H1 2017 -
The unfavorable $3.9 million impact due to the reversal during the
first quarter of 2018 of revenue in Switzerland that was
recognized during prior-year periods -
The favorable impact of $3.8 million of mobile subscription
revenue recognized in the U.K. during the third quarter of 2018
related to the expected recovery of certain prior-period VAT
payments
-
A $6.4 million headwind from the release of unclaimed customer
Q3 2018 Rebased Revenue Growth – Segment Highlights
-
U.K./Ireland: Rebased revenue growth of
4.1% in Q3 reflects (i) 2.9% rebased growth in our residential cable
business supported by subscriber growth and accelerating cable ARPU,
(ii) 13.0% rebased growth in residential mobile revenue (including
interconnect and mobile handset revenue), reflecting higher value
mobile handset sales and the aforementioned benefit related to the
expected recovery of certain prior-period VAT payments, and (iii) 2.8%
rebased revenue growth in our B2B business, driven by continued growth
in our SOHO base -
Belgium: Rebased revenue decline of 1.5%
in Q3 was mainly driven by the net effect of (i) lower mobile revenue
growth, (ii) higher B2B growth and (iii) lower cable subscription
revenue due to lower video subscribers -
Switzerland: Rebased revenue declined
6.3% in Q3, primarily due to the net effect of lower residential cable
subscription revenue, which was driven primarily by competitive
pressures, and higher mobile revenue due to increases in the average
number of mobile subscribers -
Continuing CEE (Poland, Slovakia and DTH):
Rebased revenue growth of 1.0% in Q3, due to the net effect of growth
in our B2B business and a decrease in residential cable subscription
revenue -
Central and Corporate: Rebased revenue
increased 31.7% in Q3 due largely to the low-margin sale of customer
premises equipment to the VodafoneZiggo JV, which began in the second
quarter of 2018
Operating Income
-
Operating income of $208.6 million and $210.7 million in Q3 2018 and
Q3 2017, respectively, representing a decrease of 1.0% year-over-year.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2018, our operating income of
$592.9 million reflects a decrease of 4.8% as compared to $622.7
million in YTD 2017 -
The decrease in operating income in the QTD period resulted from the
net effect of (i) higher OCF, as further described below, (ii) an
increase in impairment, restructuring and other operating items, net,
including higher provisions for litigation, (iii) an increase in
share-based compensation expense and (iv) a decrease in depreciation
and amortization expense -
The decrease in operating income in the YTD period resulted from the
net effect of (i) higher OCF, as further described below, (ii) an
increase in depreciation and amortization expense, (iii) an increase
in impairment, restructuring and other operating items, net, including
the aforementioned increase in litigation provisions, and (iv) an
increase in share-based compensation expense
Operating Cash Flow Highlights
The following table presents (i) OCF of each of our consolidated
reportable segments for the comparative periods, and (ii) the percentage
change from period to period on both a reported and rebased basis:
| Three months ended | Increase/(decrease) | Nine months ended | Increase/(decrease) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| September 30, | September 30, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| OCF | 2018 | 20173 | % | Rebased % | 2018 | 20173 | % | Rebased % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| in millions, except % amounts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Continuing operations: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| U.K./Ireland | $ | 742.1 | $ | 708.2 | 4.8 | 5.3 | $ | 2,268.3 | $ | 2,052.1 | 10.5 | 4.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Belgium | 383.4 | 356.4 | 7.6 | 8.4 | 1,124.7 | 969.6 | 16.0 | 6.7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Switzerland | 191.0 | 214.1 | (10.8 | ) | (9.0 | ) | 566.5 | 630.2 | (10.1 | ) | (11.2 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Continuing CEE | 69.6 | 70.6 | (1.4 | ) | 0.5 | 209.4 | 193.7 | 8.1 | 0.7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Central and Corporate | (88.7 | ) | (104.0 | ) | 14.7 | 14.0 | (283.3 | ) | (307.5 | ) | 7.9 | 12.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Intersegment eliminations | (3.3 | ) | (4.8 | ) | N.M. | N.M. | (9.9 | ) | (9.2 | ) | N.M. | N.M. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total continuing operations | $ | 1,294.1 | $ | 1,240.5 | 4.3 | 5.2 | $ | 3,875.7 | $ | 3,528.9 | 9.8 | 3.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| OCF margin – continuing operations | 43.7 | % | 42.5 | % | 42.6 | % | 42.2 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discontinued European Operations(i): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Germany | $ | 463.4 | $ | 440.5 | 5.2 | 6.2 | $ | 1,418.9 | $ | 1,231.8 | 15.2 | 7.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Austria | 19.6 | 57.2 | (65.7 | ) | 5.8 | 137.3 | 159.7 | (14.0 | ) | 3.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discontinued CEE | 66.0 | 67.4 | (2.1 | ) | 0.7 | 201.8 | 178.1 | 13.3 | 6.1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Intersegment eliminations | 6.2 | 10.5 | N.M. | N.M. | 24.8 | 28.2 | N.M. | N.M. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total discontinued European operations | $ | 555.2 | $ | 575.6 | (3.5 | ) | 5.8 | $ | 1,782.8 | $ | 1,597.8 | 11.6 | 6.9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full Company | 5.3 | 4.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
N.M. – Not Meaningful
(i) For information concerning our discontinued operations, see note 2.
-
Reported OCF for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018,
increased 4.3% and 9.8% year-over-year, respectively-
The YTD result was primarily driven by (i) the aforementioned
positive impact of FX movements and (ii) organic OCF growth
-
The YTD result was primarily driven by (i) the aforementioned
-
Rebased OCF growth of 5.2% in Q3 and 3.6% in YTD 2018 included:
-
The net unfavorable impact on our revenue of certain items, as
discussed in the “Revenue Highlights” section above -
Higher costs of $23.8 million in U.K./Ireland in the YTD period
resulting from the net impact of credits recorded during the
second quarter of 2017 ($28.8 million) and the second quarter of
2018 ($5.0 million) in connection with a telecommunications
operator’s agreement to compensate Virgin Media and other
communications providers for certain prior-period contractual
breaches related to network charges -
Unfavorable network tax increases of $4.7 million and $17.7
million, respectively, following an increase in the rateable value
of our existing U.K. networks, which is being phased in over a
six-year period ending in 2022 -
Favorable impacts of $9.3 million and $28.7 million, respectively,
due to the expected settlement of a portion of our 2018 annual
incentive compensation with Liberty Global ordinary shares through
a shareholding incentive program that was implemented in 2018 -
The impacts of the reassessment of certain accruals in the U.K.,
including a $5.2 million aggregate decrease in costs in Q3 and a
$6.4 million increase in costs during the second quarter of 2018.
-
The net unfavorable impact on our revenue of certain items, as
-
As compared to the prior-year periods, our Q3 and YTD 2018 OCF margins
were up 120 and up 40 basis points, respectively, to 43.7% and 42.6%
Q3 2018 Rebased Operating Cash Flow Growth –
Segment Highlights
-
U.K./Ireland: Rebased OCF growth of 5.3%
was attributable to strong revenue growth and lower marketing spend
partially offset by higher mobile handset costs, increased programming
expenses and an increase in network taxes -
Belgium: Rebased OCF growth of 8.4%,
largely driven by the net effect of lower direct costs as a result of
the migration of subscribers to our own mobile network and the
aforementioned revenue decrease -
Switzerland: Rebased OCF decline of 9.0%
in Q3, largely due to the aforementioned residential cable
subscription revenue decline -
Continuing CEE (Poland, Slovakia and DTH):
Rebased OCF growth of 0.5%, driven by the net effect of the
aforementioned revenue trend and an increase in interconnect costs
Net Earnings (Loss) Attributable to Liberty Global Shareholders
-
Net earnings (loss) attributable to Liberty Global shareholders was
$974.1 million and ($804.5 million) for the three months ended
September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $700.2 million and
($1,814.2 million) during the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and
2017, respectively
Leverage and Liquidity
-
Total capital leases and principal amount of
third-party debt: $29.7 billion for continuing operations -
Leverage ratios9: At September
30, 2018, our adjusted gross and net leverage ratios for the Full
Company were 5.1x and 4.9x, respectively. -
Average debt tenor: Over 7 years, with
~74% not due until 2024 or thereafter for continuing operations -
Borrowing costs: Blended fully-swapped
borrowing cost of our third-party debt was 4.3% for continuing
operations -
Liquidity: $3.4 billion, including (i)
$0.9 billion of cash at September 30, 2018 and (ii) aggregate unused
borrowing capacity11 under our credit facilities of
$2.5 billion, for our continuing operations
Forward-Looking Statements and Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
including statements with respect to our strategies, future growth
prospects and opportunities; expectations with respect to our OCF
growth, our Adjusted FCF, our new build and upgrade and our P&E
additions, each on a continuing operations and full company basis;
expectations with respect to the development, launch and benefits of our
innovative and advanced products and services, including Horizon 4;
expectations with respect to our capital intensity for 2019; the
anticipated closing of the Vodafone transaction; expectations regarding
our share buyback program; the expected settlement of a portion of our
2018 annual incentive compensation with Liberty Global ordinary shares;
the strength of our balance sheet and tenor of our third-party debt; and
other information and statements that are not historical fact. These
forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or
implied by these statements. These risks and uncertainties include
events that are outside of our control, such as the continued use by
subscribers and potential subscribers of our and our affiliates’
services and their willingness to upgrade to our more advanced
offerings; our and our affiliates’ ability to meet challenges from
competition, to manage rapid technological change or to maintain or
increase rates to subscribers or to pass through increased costs to
subscribers; the effects of changes in laws or regulation; general
economic factors; our and our affiliates’ ability to obtain regulatory
approval and satisfy regulatory conditions associated with acquisitions
and dispositions; our and affiliates’ ability to successfully acquire
and integrate new businesses and realize anticipated efficiencies from
acquired businesses; the availability of attractive programming for our
and our affiliates’ video services and the costs associated with such
programming; our and our affiliates’ ability to achieve forecasted
financial and operating targets; the outcome of any pending or
threatened litigation; the ability of our operating companies and
affiliates to access cash of their respective subsidiaries; the impact
of our operating companies’ and affiliates’ future financial
performance, or market conditions generally, on the availability, terms
and deployment of capital; fluctuations in currency exchange and
interest rates; the ability of suppliers and vendors (including our
third-party wireless network providers under our MVNO arrangements) to
timely deliver quality products, equipment, software, services and
access; our and our affiliates’ ability to adequately forecast and plan
future network requirements including the costs and benefits associated
with network expansions; and other factors detailed from time to time in
our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our
most recently filed Forms 10-K and 10-Q.
Contacts
Liberty Global
Investor Relations:
Matt Coates,
+44 20 8483 6333
John Rea, +1 303 220 4238
Stefan Halters, +1
303 784 4528
or
Corporate Communications:
Bill
Myers, +1 303 220 6686
Matt Beake, +44 20 8483 6428
or
Corporate
Website
www.libertyglobal.com