26.07.2017
DGAP-News:Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG: Preliminary results for January to June 2017
DGAP-News: Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG / Key word(s): Half Year
Results/Preliminary Results
Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG: Preliminary results for January to June
2017
26.07.2017 / 07:30
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
MUNICH, 26 July 2017
Preliminary results for January to June 2017
Telefónica Deutschland drives solid operating momentum in a market shifting
to stronger data growth; reiterating full year 2017 outlook
- Driving solid momentum with O2 Free 15-year birthday tariff in a market
increasingly focused on larger data buckets
- Underlying MSR [1] shows further sequential improvement to -0.4%
year-on-year in Q2
- OIBDA [2] growth of +5.0% year-on-year on the back of an additional ~EUR
40 million of Opex and revenue-related synergies
- Reiterating full-year 2017 outlook; cash flow dynamics support mid-term
dividend growth
Second quarter 2017 operational & financial highlights
- Mobile postpaid saw 197 thousand net additions, leveraging the momentum
from partners and the 15-year anniversary promotions of the O2 brand.
Partner trading stabilised at 55% share of gross adds as in prior quarter.
Contract churn was 1.5%, 0.1 percentage points lower quarter-on-quarter,
reflecting the successful focus on customer base development
- Mobile prepaid registered 322 thousand net additions on the back of the
strong performance from partners
- The LTE customer base posted strong annual growth of 53.4% to 14.4 million
supported by our successful data monetisation strategy. Data usage continued
to benefit from the demand for music and video streaming and was further
driven by the launch of bigger data buckets with O2 Free 15. For LTE
customers in O2 consumer postpaid data usage grew 12% quarter-on-quarter to
2.0 GB per month, up 48% year-on-year
- Revenue fell 3.4% year-on-year to EUR 1,771 million, mainly driven by the
impact of regulatory effects in form of the reduction of termination rates
and the European roaming legislation on mobile service revenue.
Roam-like-home came into force on 15 June 2017. Mobile service revenue fell
-3.0% year-on-year to EUR 1,318 million on a reported basis. Excluding
regulation, mobile service revenue continued to improve to -0.4%
year-on-year vs -0.6% in the prior quarter
- Handset revenue stabilised at EUR 229 million (+1.5% year-on-year),
reflecting market saturation and longer replacement cycles from customers
- Fixed-line revenue showed a continuation of trends, falling 11.2%
year-on-year to EUR 217 million, mainly as a result of the effects from the
planned decommissioning of the ULL infrastructure
- OIBDA excluding exceptional effects [3] benefitted from EUR 40 million of
additional Opex and revenue-related synergies and increased 5.0%
year-on-year to EUR 472 million. This was partly offset by commercial and
other investments, notably in the positioning of O2 Free and the 15-year
anniversary promotions. OIBDA margin excluding exceptional effects was up
2.1 percentage points year-on-year to 26.7% in the quarter
- CapEx [4] was EUR 226 million, up 6.9% year-on-year, as the company pushed
ahead with network consolidation and the further roll-out of LTE, while also
generating approx. EUR 10 million of Capex-related synergies
- Consolidated net financial debt [5] was EUR 1,575 million at the end of
June 2017, bringing the leverage ratio to 0.9x, in line with target
Progress of integration and transformation activities
Telefónica Deutschland continues to push ahead with the integration
activities and is fully on track to deliver 75% or approx. EUR 670 million
of the targeted cumulated savings level of approx. EUR 900 million operating
cash flow synergies in 2019 already by year end 2017.
Our core project, the network integration, is progressing according to plan.
In the first half of the year, we have already completed the consolidation
in several areas in Southern Germany and are continuing with our integration
efforts, aiming for sustained quality gains.
With the recently launched "Customer Experience Management Tool" (CEM), we
are setting a new benchmark in the quality measurement of our network. The
software developed by our partner Huawei together with customised use cases
enables us to better understand the data usage of our customers and to
enhance customer experience on our network. The project team and as such the
CEM tool itselve were nominated for the Innovation Award "Excellence Awards
2017 and honoured as the winner in the categorie "Outstanding Contribution
to Enabling Improved Customer Centricity" at the Telecommunications Forum in
Nice in May.
Furthermore, we continue to make progress with our other integration
projects such as personnel restructuring and optimisation of our shop
footprint. All initiatives are running according to plan.
Transformation: Opportunities beyond Connectivity
As part of our transformation effort, Telefónica Deutschland has streamlined
its senior management structure and eliminated several internal boards and
committees. The company has elevated selected members to extend the
management board as follows:
Director Controlling Markus Rolle replaces Rachel Empey as CFO, who is
leaving the company upon her own request and as mutually agreed with the
Supervisory Board to pursue new opportunities. Wolfgang Metze is appointed
as Chief Consumer Officer responsible for the retail business with a clear
focus on customer experience. Alfons Lösing is appointed Chief Partner and
Business Officer, also responsible for Telefónica NEXT. Cayetano Carbajo
Martin is appointed Chief Technology Officer. Guido Eidmann is appointed
Chief Information Officer. Valentina Daiber is appointed Chief Officer for
Legal and Corporate Affairs. Nicole Gerhardt is appointed Chief Human
Resources Officer.
We also continue to leverage other business opportunities in the areas of
Advanced Data Analytics (ADA) and the Internet of Things (IoT), bundled
under Telefónica NEXT.
- Telefónica NEXT was awarded with the first price in the category
Sustainability Innovation of the "German Awards for Excellence" 2017 for its
pilot project in Nuremberg to analyse and control traffic flows and air
quality on the basis of anonymous mobile data
- We are closely cooperating with Telefónica, S.A., to leverage
opportunitites arising from the implementation of AURA, an innovative
voice-based user interface for a closer interaction with our customers and
the extension our capacities. As a first application on the platform, the
Telefónica NEXT smartMedia division recently launched O2 GET in cooperation
with the European start-up people.io. This application gives customers full
transparency and control over the data they share, while rewarding them for
the data they have chosen to share with selected companies or brands.
- Telefónica NEXT is expanding its services for intelligent data analytics
leveraging its new partnership with Synergic Partners S.L., a wholly owned
subsidiary of Telefónica, S.A., specialising on the consultation for big
data strategies.
Commercial update
In the second quarter of 2017 we saw a dynamic competitive environment.
German mobile is shifting to higher data usage with dynamic promotional
activities and larger data buckets. We introduced a range of commercial
initiatives to support our market position, mainly centered around the 15
year anniversary of the O2 brand in May.
- Telefónica Deutschland celebrated the 15th birthday of its premium brand O2
in May with selective offers for new and existing customers in fixed and
mobile. The promotional O2 Free 15 tariff has been a significant success.
Early stats confirm that big data buckets clearly stimulate data growth and
drive cross- and upselling.
- In the second quarter we halso renewed our O2 DSL tariffs, enhancing the
offers with higher bandwith across the portfolio and speeds of up to 100
Mbps.
- In June, the connect magazine praised the high service quality of our
O2-shops,
ranking our premium brand shops as number 2 in the market, at eyes' level
with the winner in many categories. The test praised particularly our O2
guru system and their expert customer support.
Financial Outlook 2017
The financial outlook for 2017 remains unchanged as published in the 2016
Annual Financial Report:
Base line Outlook 2017 H1 / 2017
2016 (EUR (year-on-year) (year-on-year)
million)
Mobile Service Revenue 5,437 Slightly -0.5%
underlying[1][6] 1. negative to flat
#footnote_6
OIBDA before 1,793 Flat to +3.6%
exceptional mid-single-digit
effects[1][7] 1. % growth
#footnote_7
CapEx[1][8] 1. 1,102 Around EUR 1 EUR 434
#footnote_8 billion million
Telefónica Deutschland operating performance in the first half of 2017
As of 30 June 2017 Telefónica Deutschland's customer accesses totalled 49.9
million (+2.7% year-on-year) on the back of a 4.1% year-on-year increase in
the mobile base, which stood at 45.2 million. Based on market standards for
inactivity accounting as introduced with the first quarter results, we had
48.4 million mobile customer accesses and 53.1 million total accesses. In
fixed, the retail DSL customer base was 1.0% lower year-on-year at 2.1
million accesses, while wholesale DSL accesses continued to decline at an
accelerated speed of 23.8% quarter-on-quarter due to the planned dismantling
of the legacy ULL platform by 2019.
Mobile postpaid net additions came to 368 thousand in the first half of 2017
versus 197 thousand in the second quarter and 520 thousand in the same
period of 2016. The rebalancing of retail versus wholesale continued as a
result of the improvements in the discount pricing environment. Partner
brands contributed 55% of gross adds both in the second and in the first
quarter. In the retail business, Telefónica Deutschland maintained its
strategic focus on customer base development and retention, leveraging the
positive customer response to its O2 Free portfolio. At the end of June, the
mobile postpaid base was 20.9 million accesses, up 6.6% year-on-year and the
postpaid share of total mobile customers further increased by 1.1 percentage
points year-on-year to 46.3%.
Mobile prepaid saw 505 thousend net additions in the period January to June
versus 322 thousand in the second quarter with a strong performance from
partners. The customer base was up 2.0% year-on-year to 24.3 million.
Postpaid churn was slightly lower year-on-year at 1.6% in the six months
period and 1.5% in the second quarter (-0.1 percentage points year-on-year
in both periods) and the O2 consumer postpaid brand reported an even lower
churn of 1.4% in the first half year and 1.3% in the second quarter
reflecting our successful brand management and the sustained retention
focus.
Smartphone penetration [9] as of the end of June was up 1.2 percentage
points year-on-year across brands and segments at 57.4%.
The LTE customer base continued to benefit from the increasing demand for
high-speed mobile and posted another quarter of strong growth, reaching 14.4
million accesses as of 30 June 2017, up 53.4% year-on-year.
Regulatory changes further impacted ARPU and outweighed accretive effects
from O2 Free in the first half of 2017. The blended mobile ARPU came to EUR
9.6 in the first half year and EUR 9.7 in the second quarter, 6.6% and 6.5%
lower year-on-year respectively. The postpaid ARPU was EUR 15.5 both in the
six month period and the second quarter, 6.4% and 6.5% lower year-on-year
respectively. The prepaid ARPU continued to be affected by the prepaid to
postpaid dynamics in the discount segment and fell 10.9% year-on-year to EUR
5.1 in the period up to June and 9.4% year-on-year to EUR 5.2 in the second
quarter.
The retail fixed broadband customer base fell 1.0% year-on-year to 2.1
million accesses. In the first half of 2017 we registered 22 thousand net
disconnection (-13 thousand in the second quarter). The demand for VDSL
remained strong with 154 thousand net additions for the six months period,
of which 88 thousand fell into the period April to June.
Fixed wholesale accesses were 428 thousand at the end of June, posting 263
thousand net disconnections in the first half year (134 thousand in the
second quarter) due to the planned decommissioning of the ULL broadband
access infrastructure.
Telefónica Deutschland's financial performance in the first half of 2017
Revenue were 4.1% lower year-on-year at EUR 3,542 million (-3.4%
year-on-year in the second quarter to EUR 1,771 million) due to the
regulatory headwinds on mobile services revenue as well as continued trends
in the fixed business.
Mobile service revenue totalled EUR 2,610 million, 3.1% lower year-on-year,
in the first half of the year and EUR 1,318 million, -3.0% year-on-year, in
the second quarter on a reported basis. Excluding regulatory effects from
termination rate cuts and the European roaming legislation of in total EUR
70 million (EUR 35 million in each of the quarters), mobile service revenue
was down 0.5% year-on-year in the six months period and 0.4% year-on-year in
the second quarter, compared to -0.6% year-on-year in the prior quarter.
Top-line headwinds from the retail to wholesale mix-shift as well as legacy
base effects in a dynamic competitive environment continued to outweigh the
benefits from the successful marketing of the O2 Free portfolio to new and
existing customers.
Mobile data revenue was 0.7% higher year-on-year at EUR 1,488 million for
the period January to June and EUR 772 million (+3.1% year-on-year) in the
second quarter, reflecting continued OTT trends as well as demand from
customers for higher data bundles. The non-SMS data revenue share of data
revenue increased 2.1 percentage points year-on-year to 57.0 % and amounted
to EUR 1,199 million (+6.6% year-on-year) in the first half of 2017 and EUR
630 million (+9.8% year-on-year) in the second quarter.
Handset revenue fell 2.2% year-on-year to EUR 482 million and rose 1.5% to
EUR 229 million in the second quarter, reflecting continued lower demand for
handsets in line with general market trends.
Fixed revenue continued to fall to EUR 440 million (-11.6% year-on-year) and
EUR 217 million (-11.2% year-on-year) in the second quarter. Fixed retail
revenue in the first half of 2017 benefitted from the continued strong
performance of VDSL and contributed -2.3% to the year-on-year decline
respective -2.6% in the second quarter. The fixed wholesale revenue decline
continued to accelerate on the back of the planned dismantling of the legacy
infrastructure, contributing -6.5% to the year-on-year decline (-7.2% in the
period April to June).
Other income was EUR 59 million compared to EUR 436 million in the first
half of 2016, which included an exceptional effect of EUR 352 million from
the sale of tower assets in April.
Operating expenses were 6.7% lower year-on-year both in the six months
period and in the second quarter at EUR 2,760 million and EUR 1,351 million
respectively. This is mainly a result of the additional savings from
integration projects. Restructuring costs of EUR 30 million (EUR 19 million
in the second quarter) were mainly related to network, the optimisation of
our shop footprint and the leaver programme.
- Cost for supplies came to EUR 1,132 million, 6.2% lower year-on-year and
5.3% lower year-on-year at EUR 547 million in the second quarter. Hardware
cost of sales (44% of supplies in the second quarter) were slightly higher
year-on-year, while connectivity-related cost of sales (45% of supplies in
the second quarter) were lower year-on-year on the back of the mobile
termination rate reduction in December 2016.
- Personnel expenses came to EUR 313 million including restructuring costs
of EUR 13 million, a decline of 6.3% year-on-year, and EUR 157 million in
the second quarter (-1.8% year-on-year).
- Other operating expenses totalled EUR 1,315 million including
restructuring costs of EUR 17 million, a decrease of 7.2% year-on-year, and
EUR 646 million in the second quarter (-9.0% year-on-year). In the second
quarter, commercial costs and non-commercial costs made up 57% and 39%
respectively. Savings from integration were partly offset by higher
commercial investments into the positioning of O2 Free.
Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortisation (OIBDA) in the first
half of 2017 amounted to EUR 841 million compared to EUR 1,170 million in
the prior year, and EUR 452 million in the second quarter compared to EUR
791 million in the prior year; with both comparative periods in 2016
including the exceptional effect of EUR 352 million from the sale of tower
assets in April.
OIBDA excluding exceptional effects [10] rose 3.6% year-on-year to EUR 873
million (EUR 472 million or +5.0% in the second quarter) with in-year
savings from OPEX & revenue-related integration activities amounting to
approx. EUR 75 million (EUR 40 million for the period April to June). The
OIBDA margin increased by 1.8 percentage points year-on-year to 24.6% in the
first six month of the year.
Group fees amounted to EUR 20 million in the first half of 2017 and EUR 10
million in the second quarter.
Depreciation & Amortisation came to EUR 964 million in the first six month
of 2017, a 9.8% year-on-year decrease compared to EUR 1,069 million in the
same period of 2016, mainly as a result of the accelerated amortisation of
software assets due to IT integration measures and the expiration of various
spectrum licenses in 2016.
The operating loss for January to June 2017 was EUR 123 million versus an
operating income of EUR 100 million in the same period of 2016, due to the
above-metioned sale of passive tower infrastructure which was partly offset
by an amortization decrease of EUR 105 million year-on-year.
The net financial loss for the six months period amounted to EUR 16 million,
which was broadly stable year-on-year.
The Company reported no material income tax for January to June 2017.
The net loss for the first half of 2017 came to EUR 139 million.
CapEx [11] grew 1.1% year-on-year to EUR 434 million and EUR 226 million in
the second quarter (+6.9% year-on-year), as we pushed ahead with network
consolidation and further rolled out LTE while generating approx. EUR 20
million of Capex-related synergies, mainly in relation to network
integration.
Operating cash flow (OIBDA minus CapEx11) for the first six months of 2017
was EUR 407 million, down 45.0% year-on-year.
Free Cash Flow (FCF) [12] for the first six months of 2017 reached EUR 68
million.
Working capital movements came to a negative EUR 326 million, primarily
driven by seasonal prepayments of EUR 221 million mainly for leased lines
and rental contracts for mobile sites, as well as other recurring working
capital movements, which include silent factoring transactions and the
change in restructuring provisions.
Consolidated net financial debt [13] amounted to EUR 1,575 million at the
end of June 2017, bringing the leverage ratio to 0.9x versus 0.4x at
year-end 2016. The increase mainly results from the EUR 744 million dividend
payment for the financial year 2016 paid in May 2017.
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/publications/financial-publications.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
Markus Block, Senior Investor Relations Officer
Pia Hildebrand, Investor Relations Officer
Saskia Puth, Office Manager 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 be
liable whatsoever for any loss however arising, directly or indirectly, from
any use of this document its content or otherwise arising in connection with
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This document or any of the information contained herein do not constitute,
form part of or shall be construed as an offer or invitation to purchase,
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subscription, sale or exchange of shares / securities of the Company, or any
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These written materials are especially not an offer of securities for sale
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and, if sent in response to the information contained in these written
materials, will not be accepted.
[1] Excluding the impact from regulatory changes in form of the termination
rate effect and the glide path of the European roaming regulation
[2] Excluding exceptional effects. The three months ending 30 June 2017
include restructuring expenses of EUR 19 million and EUR 2 million of
acquisition related consultancy fees, while the same period of 2016 included
restructuring expenses of EUR 14 million as well as the net capital gain
from the sale of passive tower infrastructure to Telxius amounting to EUR
352 million. For 2016, we have calculated an OIBDA comparable which includes
the operating lease-related effects from the sale of Telefónica
Deutschland's passive tower infrastructure as if it had occurred on 1
January 2016.
[3] Excluding exceptional effects. The six months ending 30 June 2017
include restructuring expenses of EUR 30 million and EUR 2 million of
acquisition related consultancy fees, while the same period of 2016 it
included restructuring expenses of EUR 37 million as well as the net capital
gain from the sale of passive tower infrastructure to Telxius amounting to
EUR 352 million. For 2016, we have calculated an OIBDA comparable, which
includes the operating lease related effects from the sale of Telefónica
Deutschland's passive tower infrastructure as if it had occurred on 1
January 2016
[4] Including additions from capitalised finance leases and excluding
capitalised costs on borrowed capital for investments in spectrum
[5] Net financial debt includes current and non-current interest-bearing
financial assets and interest-bearing liabilities as well as cash and cash
equivalents and excludes the payables for the spectrum auction
[6] The impact from regulatory changes in form of the termination rate
effects and the glide path of the European roaming legislation are excluded
from the MSR guidance. Altogether these effects will result in a drag on
2017 MSR of approx. 3-4% year-on-year.
[7] Exceptional effects such as restructuring costs are excluded from our
OIBDA guidance. For 2016, we have calculated an OIBDA comparable, which
includes the operating lease-related effects from the sale of Telefónica
Deutschland's passive tower infrastructure as if it had occurred on 1
January 2016
[8] Including additions from capitalised finance leases and excluding
capitalised costs on borrowed capital for investments in spectrum
[9] Defined as the number of active mobile data tariffs over total mobile
customer base, excluding M2M and data-only accesses
[10] Excluding exceptional effects. The six months ending 30 June 2017
include restructuring expenses of EUR 30 million and EUR 2 million of
acquisition related consultancy fees, while the same period of 2016 it
included restructuring expenses of EUR 37 million as well as the net capital
gain from the sale of passive tower infrastructure to Telxius amounting to
EUR 352 million. For 2016, we have calculated an OIBDA comparable, which
includes the operating lease related effects from the sale of Telefónica
Deutschland's passive tower infrastructure as if it had occurred on 1
January 2016
[11] Including additions from capitalised finance leases and excluding
capitalised costs on borrowed capital for investments in spectrum
[12] Free cash flow pre dividends and payments for spectrum (FCF) is defined
as the sum of cash flow from operating activities and cash flow from
investing activities and does not contain paments for investments in
spectrum as well as related interest paments
[13] Net financial debt includes current and non-current interest-bearing
financial assets and interest-bearing liabilities as well as cash and cash
equivalents
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Language: English
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, Tradegate Exchange
TecDAX
End of News DGAP News Service
595585 26.07.2017