Financial results
2018 was a good year financially, in which we proved that the combination of Vodafone and Ziggo leads to success. Below we provide a summary of our financial results. [1]
Customers
7.2 million households are connected to our cable network. That is 91.6% of all households in the Netherlands, an increase of 0.8% compared to 2017.
VodafoneZiggo has 3.9 million TV connections, a decrease of 1% compared to last year.
The number of customers with a Ziggo Mediabox XL rose by 110,000. By now, more than 40% of our digital TV customers use the Ziggo Mediabox XL.
300,000 new customers downloaded and used the Ziggo GO app. Towards the end of 2018, the app had 1.5 million active users.
The number of internet connections increased by 1.5% to 3.3 million.
The number of mobile connections increased by 1.6% to 5 million.
The number of households purchasing products from Vodafone as well as Ziggo rose by 20.9% (183,000). This was due to our attractive mobile and fixed combined services, including nonstop free extras. Overall, 1,059,000 households opted for our converged services. Together, these households have 1.5 million active Vodafone SIMs. This means that 32% of our internet customers and 50% of our eligible mobile customers are converged customers. These customers are more loyal and show a higher Net Promotor Score and a lower churn rate in comparison to non-converged customers.
Revenue and Operational Cashflow
It was a year with a grand finale. In a telecom market where revenues are under pressure, we managed to realize customer growth again in the last quarter. This has resulted in slightly declining revenues compared to the previous year and a relatively slightly improved Operational Cashflow (OCF). [2]
Overall revenue amounted to 3,895 million euro, a decrease of 2%. Revenue declined due to pressure on the mobile market driven by regulatory headwinds, whereas the number of customers increased.
Revenue in the consumer market declined by 1% to 2,883 million euro, consisting of:
Revenue of the fixed network of 1,998 million euro (-1,5%), with the average revenue per user on 31 December rising by 1% to 47 euro.
Revenue of the mobile network of 885 million euro (+0,1%), with the average revenue per user on 31 December rising by 5% to 22 euro.
Revenue in the business market declined by 5.2% to 962 million, consisting of:
Revenue of the fixed network of 431 million euro (+6,9%), with 64,000 additional users in the small and medium enterprise segment;
Revenue of the mobile network of 531 million euro (-13,2%), with the average revenue per user on 31 December declining by 10% to 22 euro.
The OCF rose by 0.5% to 1,701 million euro. This was partly caused by stabilizing revenues and effective cost synergies.
We realized 50% of the intended 210 million euro in cost synergies.
During the year, we paid EUR 701 million to the shareholders Vodafone Group and Liberty Global as repayment on loans, interest and dividend.
Property and equipments additions
Our investments in, for example, our network amounted to 837 million euro, 10 million euro more than in 2017.
Together, these investments constituted 21.5% of revenues in 2018.
Expenditures were 10 million euro higher than the previous year, which was mainly due to:
An increase in investments in our fixed and mobile networks – this increase concerned both new infrastructure and capacity;
Higher project expenses for the integration of Vodafone and Ziggo;
Lower costs related to the installation of set-top boxes.
Debt
Total debt excluding supplier financing and lease commitments amounted to 9.9 billion euro on 31 December 2018.
Towards the end of 2018, the fully-swapped third-party debt borrowing costs amounted to 4.6%. The average term of our third-party debt (excluding vendor financing) was 6.7 years.
Our covenant leverage (the ratio of net total debt to annualized EBITDA) was 4.83 on 31 December 2018.
Expectations for 2019
The focus for the coming year will remain on improving the customer experience. To this end we will introduce a new TV platform, for example, and familiarize customers with 5G.
We intend to extend the commercial and financial momentum we have created in 2018. We expect our Operational Cashflow (OCF) to grow by 1 to 3%. This is feasible despite the relatively high costs of the switch-over from analogue to digital TV, with which we free up space for the introduction in 2020 of gigabit speeds on the cable network.
The higher OCF in combination with our continued investments in our network is expected to lead in 2019 to a pay-out of 400 to 600 million euro to our shareholders.
- 1 The financial figures contained in this release are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”). We adopted Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASU 2014-09” or “New GAAP”) effective January 1, 2018 by recording the cumulative effect of the adoption to our owners' equity. The comparative information for the three months and full year ended December 31, 2017 that will be included in our consolidated financial statements has not been restated and will continue to be reported under the accounting standards in effect for such periods (“Old GAAP”). However, for purposes of this document, we present all financial information for periods prior to 2018 on a pro forma basis (unless otherwise noted) that gives effect to the impact of ASU 2014-09 as if it had been adopted on January 1, 2017. The financial impact of ASU 2014-09 is detailed within the Appendix. This section is a summary of the full financial statement published 27th of February 2019. For more financial information we refer to this statement.
- 2 OCF is the primary measure used by our management to evaluate the operating performance of our businesses. OCF is also a key factor that is used by our management and our Supervisory Board to evaluate the effectiveness of our management for purposes of annual and other incentive compensation plans. As we use the term, OCF is defined as operating income before depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation, provisions and provision releases related to significant litigation and impairment, restructuring and other operating items. Other operating items include (i) gains and losses on the disposition of long-lived assets, (ii) third-party costs directly associated with successful and unsuccessful acquisitions and dispositions, including legal, advisory and due diligence fees, as applicable, and (iii) other acquisition-related items, such as gains and losses on the settlement of contingent consideration. Our management believes OCF is a meaningful measure because it represents a transparent view of our recurring operating performance that is unaffected by our capital structure and allows management to (a) readily view operating trends, (b) perform analytical comparisons and benchmarking between entities and (c) identify strategies to improve operating performance. We believe our OCF measure is useful to investors because it is one of the bases for comparing our performance with the performance of other companies in the same or similar industries, although our measure may not be directly comparable to similar measures used by other companies. OCF should be viewed as a measure of operating performance that is a supplement to, and not a substitute for, operating income, net earnings or loss, cash flow from operating activities and other U.S. GAAP measures of income or cash flows. A reconciliation of operating income to OCF is presented under the Financial Results, OCF Reconciliation & Property and Equipment Additions section in the Financial Results, OCF reconciliation & Property and Equipment additions section of our press release. This section is a summary of the full financial statement published 27th of February 2019. For more financial information we refer to this statement .