05.11.2015
DGAP-News:Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG: Telefónica Deutschland updates 2015 OIBDA and CapEx outlook resulting from early capture of synergies; dividend proposal of EUR 0.24/share
DGAP-News: Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG / Key word(s):
Preliminary Results/9-month figures
Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG: Telefónica Deutschland updates 2015
OIBDA and CapEx outlook resulting from early capture of synergies;
dividend proposal of EUR 0.24/share
05.11.2015 / 07:29
MUNICH, 5 Nov 2015
Preliminary results for January to September 2015:
Telefónica Deutschland updates 2015 OIBDA and CapEx outlook resulting from
early capture of synergies; dividend proposal of EUR 0.24/share
- Strong +16.1% year-on-year OIBDA growth in the first nine months and
+29.8% year-on-year in the third quarter from synergies and
optimisation of commercial costs
- MSR -0.3% year-on-year in the third quarter and broadly stable at +0.4%
in the first nine months in line with expectations amidst continued
focus on customer base development and mobile data monetisation;
reiterating full-year MSR outlook
- Financial outlook for the year 2015 updated as follows:
- Increased OIBDA growth expectations to +15-20% year-on-year (from
>10% year-on-year previously expected)
- Increased expectations for CapEx reduction to a low double-digit
percentage decline year-on-year (from high single-digit percentage
decline previously expected)
- Expected in-year savings from synergies for the year 2015 updated to
EUR 280 million (from EUR 250 million run-rate previously) as a result
of bringing forward significant integration activities from 2016 into
2015; overall synergy case unchanged
- Continuity reflected in stable cash dividend proposal of EUR
0.24/share
Third quarter 2015 operational & financial highlights1,
- Net additions in mobile postpaid were 169 thousand with a strong
contribution from partner brands and were affected by the disconnection
of Kabel Deutschland customers after the Vodafone integration. Contract
churn improved 0.2 percentage points year-on-year to 1.7% in the third
quarter excluding M2M. Prepaid showed seasonally strong growth with 503
thousand net additions, driven by strong performance from partners and
a high share of net additions from our ethnic brands over the summer.
- The LTE customer base continued to grow to 7.0 million by the end of
September 2015, reflecting the success of our data monetisation
strategy.
- The development of mobile service revenues (-0.3% year-on-year) was
mainly the result of company strategy to develop its customer base and
focus on retention, as well as the growth of the partner business.
- Revenues reached EUR 1,979 million (-1.1% year-on-year) with revenue
from handsets growing by 2.7% year-on-year, while MSR was slightly
negative. Fixed revenues continued to fall driven by voice and
wholesale, while retail DSL showed a slight sequential improvement.
- OIBDA excluding exceptional effects continued to increase to EUR 454
million (+29.8% year-on-year), driven by synergies and commercial cost
savings. Due to the accelerated execution of various integration
initiatives, more than 45% of the year-on-year OIBDA growth was driven
by integration savings.
- CapEx (excluding investments in spectrum) declined 15.6% year-on-year
to EUR 241 million as synergies from building one single LTE network
outweighed investments for growth and network integration. The Company
is on track to deliver its LTE coverage target of approximately 75% by
the end of 2015.
- Consolidated net financial debt was EUR 1,415 million at the end of
September 2015. Financial leverage returned to 0.9x, after dividend and
spectrum investment payments in the second quarter of 2015.
Progress of integration and transformation activities
During the third quarter of 2015, Telefónica Deutschland continued to make
significant progress in terms of the execution of integration and
transformation projects, to the extent that the Company now expects to
reach EUR 280 million in-year savings from synergies for the full year 2015
(compared to the run-rate of EUR 250 million previously expected):
- By the end of September, Telefónica Deutschland came close to
finalising the execution of the 2015 leaver programme of restructuring
800 full time equivalents (FTEs) out of a total of 1,600 FTEs.
- Telefónica Deutschland is progressing well with the transfer of the 301
shops to be handed over to Drillisch, 102 of which are own shops and
199 partner shops. This transfer of shops will contribute significantly
to the planned consolidation of the shop footprint of Telefónica
Deutschland from 1,800 to 1,200 shops. In addition to the Drillisch
transfer, the Company aims to consolidate another 100 shops until
year-end.
- In July 2015 Telefónica Deutschland agreed to transfer approx. 7,700
mobile sites to Deutsche Telekom as part of the planned network
consolidation, helping to drive a more efficient site dismantling
process.
- Telefónica Deutschland continues to push ahead with the in-city
consolidation of its facilities, focussing on Munich, Düsseldorf and
Hamburg as the main activity centres, with the intention to reduce
office space by one third of the total target by year-end 2018 (total
target is a reduction of approximately 100 thousand sqm or 50% of total
office space).
- Telefónica Deutschland is also currently optimising the management of
external staff, including agency workers, outsourcing and consultants,
and expects to see significant benefits from these initiatives also by
year-end.
Recent developments in Telefónica Deutschland's commercial offer and
network
During the third quarter of 2015 Telefónica Deutschland continued to
execute commercial initiatives to retain market momentum, including an
enhancement of its O2 Blue All-in portfolio and relaunch of its value brand
Blau based on customer insights:
- As of 1 October O2 Blue customers will benefit from more attractive
conditions for phone calls to other countries and roaming packages. LTE
roaming has been available since August in selected EU countries.
- The 'O2 Guru' service and iPhone 6S campaigns were successfully
launched in September to help drive our focus on digitalisation and
value generation in the premium segment.
- The O2 Blue data automatic was redesigned to give customers with a
larger data allowances a proportionally more appropriate option if they
exceed their allowance, thus facilitating data monetisation.
- As part of its strategy of digital innovation Telefónica Deutschland
now offers the 'O2 Message+Call' app as added value, enabling customers
to use wifi calling via their mobile phones.
- Value brand Blau was relaunched in September through physical and
online channels with a clear focus on simplicity to offer customers the
best value for money in their segment.
- Independent surveys show the ongoing improvement of our network quality
perception: In October Computer Bild confirmed that Telefónica
Deutschland has significantly reduced the gap to its competitors as a
result of national roaming and improved LTE coverage.
Update 2015 financial outlook
During the first nine months of 2015, Telefónica Deutschland successfully
pursued its strategic priorities of maintaining market momentum, driving
the integration and transforming the Company. Having reached a number of
important milestones on our path to becoming the leading digital telco, we
are now updating the outlook for the financial year 2015.
As a result of leveraging a strong network and attractive commercial
offering with an emphasis on data monetisation, we continue to expect
mobile service revenue to remain broadly stable compared to the 2014
combined figure (EUR 5,528 million).
Moreover, Telefónica Deutschland saw significant OIBDA growth (excl.
exceptional effects) in the first nine months of 2015 driven by the early
capture of synergies, as we were able to accelerate and bring forward
significant integration activities from 2016 into 2015. The focus on the
development of the customer base further helped to optimise commercial
costs. As such, we now expect OIBDA to grow 15-20% year-on-year versus the
2014 combined6 figure (EUR 1,461 million), compared to previous growth
expectations of more than 10% year-on-year.
With regard to synergies Telefónica Deutschland now expects to achieve
around EUR 280 million of OpCF (OIBDA-CapEx) synergies in 2015, which is
approximately 35% of the synergy target run-rate (EUR 800 million) after
five years ; the overall synergy case remains unchanged.
OpEx savings and revenue synergies are expected to amount to ca. 50% of the
total OpCF synergies in 2015. The Company has been able to make significant
progress in terms of accelerating the execution of various initiatives.
Major synergy drivers in this first year include the headcount
restructuring programme, retail footprint optimisation, consolidation of
facilities, reduction of external staff as well as various projects
relating to the simplification of business processes and the elimination of
duplications. Expectations for the total synergy case are unchanged.
Revenue and other synergies are expected to come primarily from the
contribution of the Mobile Bitstream Access agreement to our partner
business.
CapEx synergies are expected to represent around 50% of total OpCF
synergies for 2015 and largely stem from a single rather than dual network
roll-out.
Moreover, in 2015 synergy effects in the latter half of the year are
expected to outweigh the initial efforts required to consolidate the two
networks as well as additional investments necessary to accelerate the
deployment of LTE. As a result, we expect CapEx8 in 2015 to show a low
double-digit percentage decline year-on-year from a combined6 base of EUR
1,161 million.
With regards to shareholder remuneration, we intend to show continuity with
respect to the dividend for the year 2015 and to propose to the next
ordinary Annual General Meeting a cash dividend of EUR 0.24/per share,
amounting to EUR 714 million in total, payable in May 2016. In line with
our publicly stated dividend policy, the Company intends to maintain a high
pay-out ratio in relation to Free Cash Flow while keeping the leverage
ratio at or below 1.0x over the medium term. With regards to the
integration of the E-Plus Group, the management board may consider
synergies expected to be realised in the future when making a dividend
proposal.
Base line for 9M 2015 Initial Outlook Updated Outlook 2014 (y-o-y pct. 2015 201511 (EUR million) growth) (year-on-year pct. (year-on-year growth) pct. growth) MSR 5,528 +0.4% Broadly stable Broadly stable OIBDA 1,461 +16.1% >10% 15-20% before except. effects CapEx 1,161 -2.8% High single digit Low double digit pct. decline pct. decline Dividend EUR 0.24/ - - EUR 0.24/share share
Telefónica Deutschland's operating performance in the third quarter of 2015
At the end of September 2015 Telefónica Deutschland reached an access base
of 48.6 million, an increase of 1.8% year-on-year driven by strong growth
in the prepaid and postpaid mobile base, which stood at 43.3 million (+2.6%
year-on-year). Fixed accesses continued to fall by 4.4% year-on-year to 5.4
million driven by wholesale DSL, while retail broadband continues to
improve its year-on-year trend.
Net additions in mobile postpaid in the third quarter were 169 thousand
with a strong contribution from partner brands and were affected by the
disconnection of Kabel Deutschland customers following the integration into
Vodafone Germany. Contract churn improved 0.2 percentage points
year-on-year to 1.7% in the third quarter excluding M2M. Lower year-on-year
trading in the retail postpaid business is a reflection of our strategic
focus on the evolution of our customer base. However, the share of partner
brands over total gross adds has now stabilised at 45% compared with the
previous quarter. The total postpaid mobile base reached 19.3 million
accesses at the end of September 2015, i.e. 44.5% of total mobile
customers.
Prepaid showed strong growth with 503 thousand net additions in the third
quarter of 2015 compared to 237 thousand in the second quarter of 2015, as
a result of strong growth in partner brands and seasonal good performance
of ethnic brands in the summer period. The prepaid base thus increased to
24.0 million accesses.
Postpaid churn was 1.7% in the third quarter 2015, an improvement
year-on-year and stable quarter-on-quarter as a result of Telefónica
Deutschland's focus on retention. The O2 consumer brand reported an even
lower churn of 1.3% in the quarter.
Smartphone penetration across all brands continued to improve to 52.9%
(vs. 51.3% in the second quarter of 2015), as demand for data and
smartphones continues to rise among the prepaid customer base also,
particularly in high-value partner brands.
The LTE customer base continued to grow to 7.0 million by September 2015,
up 14.9% versus the previous quarter, reflecting the success of the LTE and
data monetisation strategy, including the opening of the LTE network to the
whole O2 postpaid customer base.
In the third quarter of 2015 mobile ARPU was EUR 10.9 (-2.5% year-on-year),
a slight improvement from the second quarter (EUR 10.8). Postpaid ARPU15
came to EUR 17.4 in the same period, above the EUR 17.2 of the second
quarter of 2015, but a decline of 4.2% year-on-year. This largely resulted
from the higher number of wholesale customers acquired via the partner
business. The value of prepaid customers continued to improve with a
prepaid ARPU of EUR 6.0 for the third quarter of 2015, up 3.9% from EUR 5.8
in the third quarter of 2014.
With a lower number of net disconnections (-12.6 thousand), the decline in
the retail fixed broadband access base continued to improve over
consecutive quarters, bringing the total base to just over 2.1 million.
Strong VDSL net additions of 64 thousand (vs. 58 thousand in the second
quarter) could not quite compensate for the decline in fixed wholesale
accesses (-42 thousand) driven by the progressive decommissioning of the
ULL broadband access infrastructure and the decline in fixed voice
accesses.
Telefónica Deutschland's financial performance in the third quarter and
nine months of 2015 ,
Revenues for the first nine months of 2015 totalled EUR 5,828 million, an
increase of 0.9% over the previous year, while in the third quarter they
declined 1.1% year-on-year to EUR 1,979 million.
Mobile service revenues for January to September showed slight year-on-year
growth of 0.4%, with a slight decline of -0.3% to EUR 1,419 million in the
third quarter. The latter was mainly the result of company strategy to
develop its customer base and focus on retention, as well as the growth of
the partner business.
Mobile data revenues came to EUR 2,127 million for the nine months period
(EUR 728 million in the third quarter). The share of mobile data revenues
over total mobile service revenues continued to increase to 51.3% in the
third quarter 2015 (plus 0.1 percentage points versus the first half of
2015), of which 71.9% (plus 0.9 percentage points versus the first half of
2015) were non-SMS data revenues.
Mobile data usage for LTE customers continued to show strong growth of +11%
quarter-on-quarter to 1.1 Gb/month ), driven by the adoption of LTE-enabled
handsets and the growing usage of audio and video streaming applications.
In the O2 postpaid premium business the Company continued to see a
sequential improvement in the adoption mix of tariffs, with approx. 37% of
gross additions in the third quarter of 2015 taking a tariff with more than
1 Gb monthly allowance (approx. 35% in the previous quarter).
Moreover, the rate of automatic extensions of monthly data allowances has
increased to 54% of the opted-in customer base, as the data automatic
itself has also been refined to allow bigger 'snacks' for high-end users.
Handset revenues continued to grow 15.5% year-on-year to EUR 887 million
for January to September 2015, while in the third quarter they reached EUR
301 million (+2.7% year-on-year), as a result of our focus on retention and
customer base development.
Fixed revenues amounted to EUR 778 million in the period until September
2015, a decline of 10.0% year-on-year, while in the third quarter they
reached EUR 256 million (-9.5% year-on-year; unchanged compared to the
second quarter of 2015). Improved traction of the retail DSL business helps
to stem the decline in the wholesale ADSL and voice carrier business. The
contribution of retail DSL revenues to the year-on-year reduction of total
fixed revenues thus also improved from -4.8 percentage points in the second
quarter to -3.6 percentage points in the third quarter.
Operating expenses for January to September 2015 fell 1.4% year-on-year to
EUR 4,714 million including restructuring costs of EUR 66 million, while in
the third quarter they amounted to EUR 1,627 million (an improvement of
4.3% year-on-year) including restructuring costs of EUR 63 million. The
latter were mainly related to network integration.
- Supplies amounted to EUR 1,965 million in the first nine months and EUR
660 million in the third quarter of 2015, of which 45% were hardware
costs of sales and 47% connectivity-related cost of sales
- Personnel expenses amounted to EUR 500 million in the first nine
months. In the third quarter, personnel expenses came to EUR 155
million of which base salaries made up 78%
- Other operating expenses amounted to EUR 2,248 million in the first
nine months of 2015 and EUR 812 million in the third quarter of 2015,
of which commercial and non-commercial costs represented 53% and 37%
respectively
Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortisation (OIBDA) improved
significantly in the first nine month of 2015 to EUR 1,234 million (EUR 388
million in the third quarter). OIBDA before exceptional effects20 and after
group fees increased by 16.1% year-on-year in the nine months of 2015 and
by 29.8% in the third quarter. The substantial OIBDA growth was driven by
the early capture of integration synergies as well as a reduction in
commercial costs. In-year savings from integration activities contributed
45% to the year-on-year OIBDA increase in the third quarter.
The OIBDA margin was 21.2% for the nine months period and 22.0% before
exceptional effects , the latter with an improvement of 2.9 percentage
points versus the same period last year. In the third quarter of 2015 the
OIBDA margin before exceptional effects came to 22.9% (+5.5 percentage
points year-on-year).
Group fees amounted to EUR 38 million in the first nine months of 2015 and
EUR 15 million in the third quarter of 2015.
Depreciation & Amortisation totalled EUR 1,545 million in the first nine
months of 2015, compared to EUR 779 million reported in the same period of
2014. The strong increase over last year's reported numbers is mainly
driven by the incorporation of E-Plus Group in 2014 and the first impacts
from the consolidation of both networks.
With respect to the spectrum assets acquired in the frequency auction in
the second quarter (book value of EUR 1,196 million at the end of September
2015 including capitalised costs on borrowed capital), the renewed licenses
in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands will begin to be amortised from January 2017,
while the newly acquired spectrum in the 700 MHz band will contribute to
amortisation expenses after its final release by the Authorities.
Operating income was EUR -312 million for January to September 2015 (EUR
-124 million in the third quarter), as depreciation & amortisation charges
still exceeded OIBDA.
Net financial result for the first nine months of 2015 was negative in the
amount of EUR 36 million (EUR -11 million in the third quarter). This was
mainly the result of different financing activities executed in the past
(the bonds issued in November 2013 and February 2014), the promissory note
executed in March 2015 as well as interest expenses from finance lease
obligations.
The Company did not report significant current income taxes for January to
September 2015.
The result for the nine months period 2015 was EUR -347 million (EUR -134
million in the third quarter), mainly due to the above-mentioned
performance of the operating income.
CapEx (excluding investments in spectrum) fell 2.8% year-on-year to EUR 704
million in the first nine months of 2015 and by 15.6% year-on-year to EUR
241 million in the third quarter. The steepening of the rate of decline in
the third quarter was mainly due to phasing and the realisation of CapEx
synergies which outweighed effects from investments in the LTE rollout as
well as network integration costs.
Operating cash flow (OIBDA minus CapEx excluding investments in spectrum)
for the nine month period of 2015 was EUR 530 million (EUR 147 million in
the third quarter). Before exceptional effects, operating cash flow showed
strong year-on-year growth of 51.9% and 231.2% respectively for the nine
months and the third quarter of 2015.
Free Cash Flow (FCF) for the first nine months of 2015 reached EUR 350
million, of which EUR 58 million were proceeds from the sale of yourfone
GmbH in the first quarter.
Working capital movements of EUR -201 million were mainly driven by
prepayments (mainly rents) of EUR -86 million until September, a CapEx
reversal of EUR -166 million from the fourth quarter of 2014, as well as
regular working capital movements which include silent factoring
transactions for O2 myHandy receivables. These were partly offset by the
upfront payment of EUR 150 million received in July 2015 from the MBA
contract with Drillisch.
Consolidated net financial debt was EUR 1,415 million at the end of
September 2015, reaching a leverage ratio of 0.9x after 1.2x in the first
half of 2015. This was mainly due to the effect from the EUR 714 million
dividend for the financial year 2014 paid in May 2015, and the payment in
June for long-term investments in spectrum licenses (EUR 977 million out of
a total consideration of EUR 1,198 million).
APPENDIX - DATA TABLES
Please refer to the following link to access the download of the data
tables. Thank you.
https://www.telefonica.de/investor-relations-en/financial-publications/q3-
2015.html
Further information
Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG
Investor Relations
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 23-25
80992 München
Veronika Bunk-Sanderson, Director Investor Relations
Marion Polzer, Senior Manager Investor Relations
Pia Hildebrand, Office Coordinator Investor Relations
(t) +49 89 2442 1010
ir-deutschland@telefonica.com
www.telefonica.de/investor-relations
Disclaimer:
This document contains statements that constitute forward-looking
statements and expectations about Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG (in the
following "the Company" or "Telefónica Deutschland") that reflect the
current views and assumptions of Telefónica Deutschland's management with
respect to future events, including financial projections and estimates and
their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives and
expectations which may refer, among others, to the intent, belief or
current prospects of the customer base, estimates regarding, among others,
future growth in the different business lines and the global business,
market share, financial results and other aspects of the activity and
situation relating to the Company. Forward-looking statements are based on
current plans, estimates and projections. The forward-looking statements in
this document can be identified, in some instances, by the use of words
such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "believes", and similar
language or the negative thereof or by forward-looking nature of
discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Such forward-looking
statements, by their nature, are not guarantees of future performance and
are subject to risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to
predict and generally beyond Telefónica Deutschland's control and other
important factors that could cause actual developments or results to
materially differ from those expressed in or implied by the Company's
forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include those
discussed or identified in fuller disclosure documents filed by Telefónica
Deutschland with the relevant Securities Markets Regulators, and in
particular, with the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority
(Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht - BaFin). The Company
offers no assurance that its expectations or targets will be achieved.
Analysts and investors, and any other person or entity that may need to
take decisions, or prepare or release opinions about the shares /
securities issued by the Company, are cautioned not to place undue reliance
on those forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of
this document. Past performance cannot be relied upon as a guide to future
performance.
Except as required by applicable law, Telefónica Deutschland undertakes no
obligation to revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events and
circumstances after the date of this presentation, including, without
limitation, changes in Telefónica Deutschland's business or strategy or to
reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
The financial information and opinions contained in this document are
unaudited and are subject to change without notice.
This document contains summarised information or information that has not
been audited. In this sense, this information is subject to, and must be
read in conjunction with, all other publicly available information,
including if it is necessary, any fuller disclosure document published by
Telefónica Deutschland.
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officers, directors, employees, advisors, representatives or agents shall
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Company: Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 23-25
80992 München
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)89 24 42 0
Internet: www.telefonica.de
ISIN: DE000A1J5RX9
WKN: A1J5RX
Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated
Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich,
Stuttgart
TecDAX
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