21.03.2016
Tele Columbus AG DE000TCAG172
DGAP-News: Tele Columbus reports strong growth driven by primacom and pepcom acquisitions
DGAP-News: Tele Columbus AG / Key word(s): Preliminary Results
Tele Columbus reports strong growth driven by primacom and pepcom
acquisitions
21.03.2016 / 07:00
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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PRESS RELEASE
Publication of preliminary full year results 2015
Tele Columbus reports strong growth driven by primacom and pepcom
acquisitions
- First reporting of the combined Tele Columbus, primacom and pepcom
Group
- primacom and pepcom reflected in results effective from 1 August 2015
and 1 December 2015 respectively
- For the full year, the Group reported EUR 278.7 million of revenues,
Normalised EBITDA of EUR 140.9 million and EBITDA margin of 50.5%
- In Q4 of fiscal year 2015, the Group reached EUR 96.9 million of
revenues, Normalised EBITDA of EUR 51.9 million and an EBITDA margin of
53.6%
- Total capital expenditures amounted to EUR 113.6 million for the full
year 2015 (40.8% of sales)
- Significant step-up in scale to 3.6 million homes connected of which
61% on two-way upgraded networks and own signal at the end of the
fiscal year
- Strong organic Internet RGUs growth of approximately 16k RGUs in Q4
- Dynamic Premium TV growth with net adds of approximately 11k RGUs in Q4
from HD sales push
- 1.55 RGUs per subscriber and total blended ARPU of EUR 14.9 for the
year (Q4: EUR 15.6)
Berlin, 21 March 2016. Following the acquisitions of PrimaCom Holding GmbH
("primacom") and pepcom GmbH ("pepcom"), Tele Columbus AG ("Tele Columbus"
or "Company", all three entities named as "the Group"), published
consolidated preliminary results of the combined Group. For the full year
2015, Tele Columbus reached revenues of EUR 278.7 million. In the same
period, Normalised EBITDA amounted to EUR 140.9 million, resulting in a
Normalised EBITDA margin of 50.5%. In total, Tele Columbus Group spent EUR
113.6 million capital expenditures in the year with Tele Columbus
standalone contributing EUR 93.2 million in line with its reduced Capex
guidance of EUR 80 to 100 million for 2015. On 31 December 2015, the
Company served 3.6 million homes connected of which 61% were fully two-way
upgraded and on own network.
The new Tele Columbus Group consisting of Tele Columbus, primacom and
pepcom represents a strong number three player in the German cable market
reaching close to 10 % of German homes. As of 31 December and with pepcom
consolidated for the first time, the Company served 2.44 million customers,
representing 2.46 million Cable TV RGUs (Revenue Generating Units) and 426k
Premium TV RGUs. In addition, Internet RGUs amounted to 462k and Telephony
RGUs reached 427k, an increase of 99k and 75k compared to the end of
September 2015 respectively. Approximately 16k Internet net adds in Q4 came
from organic growth.
"With the successful consolidation of primacom and pepcom we have set a new
starting point for the further development of the company", says Ronny
Verhelst, CEO of Tele Columbus. "While still working consequently on the
integration of the three entities we have managed at the same time to
successfully pursue our goals and drive innovation of future products and
services. This is a remarkable effort by the management team and all
employees I am extremely proud of."
On 1 October 2015, Tele Columbus launched a new HDTV push campaign offering
a free three months trial of the encrypted private HD programs to its
customers. Due to its success, the campaign had been extended until the end
of December 2015 which added approximately 11k RGUs in Q4. There are
further initiatives planned, for example for the European Football
Championships in summer 2016.
On 14 October 2015, Tele Columbus announced a new core management
consisting of nine members in total reflecting the increased size of the
combined group. Ronny Verhelst and Frank Posnanski are continuing in their
roles as CEO and CFO, respectively, and management board members
("Vorstandsmitglieder") for the combined group. With the completion of the
pepcom acquisition, the Managing Director of HL komm was appointed to the
core management consisting now of ten members.
On 15 October 2015, Tele Columbus announced that it had entered into a
cooperation agreement with ProSiebenSat.1 Group for Video on Demand (VoD)
services. Maxdome subscription VoD will become an important layer of Tele
Columbus' planned Advanced TV platform.
On 29 October 2015, the Tele Columbus AG received a new rating from rating
agency Standard & Poor's ('S&P') following the financing of the pepcom
acquisition announced in September 2015. Based on the final capital
structure, S&P has as expectedly reduced the Corporate Family Rating of
Tele Columbus Group from the current 'B+' rating with negative outlook to a
new 'B' rating with stable outlook following the pepcom acquisition.
On 4 November 2015, Tele Columbus announced that the Hanover administrative
functions will be moved to Berlin and Leipzig within two years.
On 6 November 2015, Tele Columbus successfully completed its rights
offering with gross proceeds of approximately EUR 382.7 million resulting
in net proceeds of circa
EUR 363.3 million. As a result of the rights offering, Tele Columbus'
registered number of shares increased by 70,864,584 from 56,691,667 to
127,556,251. On the same day, Tele Columbus successfully accomplished its
syndication of a January 2021 EUR 320 million First Lien Term Loan B and a
July 2022 EUR 117 million Second Lien Term Loan.
On 30 November 2015, Tele Columbus announced the successful closing of its
acquisition of Munich based pepcom, the fourth largest German cable network
operator. The agreement to acquire pepcom was signed on 13 September 2015
with no regulatory approval and merger control review needed. Following the
announcement, the assets of pepcom were consolidated effective 1 December
2015.
In October and November 2015, Tele Columbus acquired several local cable
network operators and in January 2016, the Group bought another smaller L4
cable operator. As a strong number three player in the German cable market,
Tele Columbus will continue to actively pursue further smaller acquisitions
to strengthen its portfolio.
In December 2015, the negotiations with the workers council regarding a
balance of interest ("Interessensausgleich") for Tele Columbus and primacom
started and continued throughout February and March 2016. A final decision
is expected for mid 2016.
Recent developments
In January 2016 with effect from 1 March 2016, the Tele Columbus Group
started a harmonization for Tele Columbus' and primacom's double play
Internet and Telephony and triple play products. The download speeds for
end customers were increased from 16 Mbit/s to 20 Mbit/s, from 50 Mbit/s to
60 Mbit/s, from 100 Mbit/s to 120 Mbit/s and from 150 Mbit/s to 200 Mbit/s
respectively. Approximately 200k existing Internet and telephony customers
were affected.
On 10 February 2016, TecDAX listed United Internet, Montabaur, announced
that it owns 9.8% of shares in Tele Columbus AG and contractually secured a
share package amounting to another approx. 15.31%. United Internet noted
that Tele Columbus AG is a well positioned company with attractive market
opportunities and that it wants to accompany the company's ongoing
development as a strategic investor in order to benefit from its growth in
value. The anti-trust authority approved the transaction on 9 March 2016
and United Internet became the single largest shareholder owning 25.11% in
Tele Columbus AG.
In February 2016, Tele Columbus entered into agreements with IKB and J.P.
Morgan on hedging a large portion of its credit facilities. EUR 1,100
million of the debt is hedged long term until December 2020. The variable
underlying interest rate base (EURIBOR) is capped at 75bp.
In February 2016, the Group started a friendly user test of its Advanced TV
product in Tele Columbus footprint. With its planned Advanced TV platform,
Tele Columbus will enhance the customer experience by further innovative
features such as interactive, time-shift and multi-screen TV usage. Through
the integration of maxdome to its platform, Tele Columbus customers will
have access to movies, series and documentaries out of Germany's largest
online video library.
On 1 March 2016, Tele Columbus launched its free Wifi service "Community
WLAN". Existing Tele Columbus and primacom Internet customers with active
WLAN function are able to connect to approximately 50k hotspots in the Tele
Columbus footprint for free mobile internet access. The new service offers
up to 10 Mbit/s download speeds, unlimited data and no restrictions on
usage.
Next steps
Tele Columbus will host its first Capital Markets Day on 11 April 2016
providing
- an update of its future strategy,
- high level pro forma 2015 numbers for the combined group,
- guidance for the fiscal year 2016,
- medium term outlook similar to the outlook Tele Columbus gave at the
time of the IPO.
Additional information:
11 April 2016: First Capital Markets Day (capital markets participants
only)
10 June 2016: Annual General Meeting
Summary table for Q4 FY2014 / preliminary Q4 FY2015
and FY2014 / preliminary FY2015 respectively:
EURm Q4 2014 Q4 2015 yoy % FY20- FY2015 yoy % prelim 141 prelim Revenues 53.7 96.9 80.5 213.0 278.7 30.9 Normalised EBITDA 26.0 51.9 99.7 98.9 140.9 42.4 Norm. EBITDA margin, % 48.4 53.6 5.2ppt 46.5 50.5 4.0p pt Capex 44.1 54.6 23.9 84.1 113.6 35.2 Capex / Revenues, % 82.1 56.3 (25.8p 39.5 40.8 1.3p pt) pt EUR per month Total blended ARPU 14.0 15.6 11.5 13.9 14.9 7.1 RGU as per end of period ('000) CATV 1,311 2,458 87.6 Internet 202 462 128.8 Telephony 170 427 151.3 Premium TV 161 426 165.6About Tele Columbus The SDAX listed Tele Columbus Group is one of Germany's largest cable network operators. Via its origins - individual regional cable network operators that were merged into Tele Columbus - the company dates back to 1972. Today, about 3.6 million connected households in Germany are served by Tele Columbus, primacom, pepcom, Deutsche Telekabel, Martens und KMS with TV signals and, increasingly, digital broadcast packages, Internet and voice connections provided via high-performance broadband cable. As a national provider with a regional focus and a partner of the housing industry, the Group is present throughout its core markets Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia as well as in numerous key regions in western Germany. In tune with current demand trends, the company is upgrading its networks in a hybrid fibre-optic infrastructure for superfast Internet connections of up to several hundred megabits per second with the state-of-the-art Internet transmission standard DOCSIS 3.0. The broadband cable caters to the entire range of innovative media applications from analogous, digital and high-definition TV to high-speed Internet and voice connections to telemetry services, tenant portals and interactive services. Beyond merely transmitting signals, Tele Columbus uses its own product platform in order to actively increase the programme offering and to develop additional services. Via its company HL komm, Tele Columbus also delivers powerful connections and network services to business customers. Disclaimer This Investor Relations release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations or beliefs and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure you that any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward- looking events and circumstances discussed in this Investor Relations release may not occur and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. This Investor Relations release may contain references to certain non-GAAP financial measures, such as Normalized EBITDA and Capex, and operating measures, such as RGUs, ARPU, and Unique subscribers calculation. These supplemental financial and operating measures should not be viewed in isolation as alternatives to measures of Tele Columbus' financial condition, results of operations or cash flows as presented in accordance with IFRS in its Consolidated Financial Statements. The non-GAAP financial and operating measures used by Tele Columbus may differ from, and not be comparable to, similarly titled measures used by other companies. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or other information contained in this Investor Relations release. It is pointed out that the present Investor Relations release may be incomplete or condensed, and it may not contain all material information concerning Tele Columbus AG or the Tele Columbus Group. Contact: Press Contact Hannes Lindhuber Phone +49 (30) 3388 4170 Fax +49 (30) 3388 9 1999 [email protected] www.telecolumbus.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21.03.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: Tele Columbus AG Goslarer Ufer 39 10589 Berlin Germany Phone: +49 (0)30 3388 4177 Fax: +49 (0)30 3388 9 1999 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.telecolumbus.de ISIN: DE000TCAG172 WKN: TCAG17 Indices: SDAX Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange End of News DGAP News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 447097 21.03.2016
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