Liberty Global Reports First Quarter 2019 Results
Liberty Global plc today announced its Q1 2019 financial results.
Our operations in Germany, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic, along with our DTH business and our former operation in Austria (collectively, the “Discontinued Operations”) have been accounted for as discontinued operations. UPC Switzerland will continue to be included in our continuing operations until the pending sale transaction is approved by Sunrise’s shareholders.
Unless otherwise indicated, the information in this release relates only to our continuing operations.
CEO Mike Fries stated, “A year ago we announced the sale of our operations in Germany, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic to Vodafone, which represents the largest divestiture in company history. Since deal announcement we have crossed a number of key milestones and the European Commission is currently in the final stages of its review. We are confident that we remain
on track for a successful completion of this transaction during the summer. With respect to the sale of UPC Switzerland to Sunrise, the Swiss Competition Authority is now reviewing the case having received formal notification and we anticipate regulatory approval in the fourth quarter. And finally, we are pleased to announce that the sale of our Eastern European DTH business was completed in early
May. We will provide updates in due course regarding our capital allocation decisions with the total proceeds from these transactions.
“From an operating perspective, Virgin Media continued to deliver improved subscriber trends. During the first quarter, Virgin Media delivered nearly 60,000 RGU additions, a 32% year-over-year improvement driven by 26,000 new customer relationships. On the innovation front, we are pushing the envelope in the U.K. In April, we rolled out compelling new fixed-mobile converged bundles, boosted our top broadband speed to 500 Mbps and launched Intelligent WiFi, a cloud-based adaptive system that’s designed to significantly improve our customers’ in home WiFi experience.
