Liberty Global today announced its Q2 2024 financial results.
CEO Mike Fries stated, “Q2 has been another active quarter as we’ve continued to drive our strategic priorities; maximizing the value of our FMCs, leveraging our Ventures portfolio, and taking steps to deliver that value directly to shareholders over time.
- Our plan to spin-off Sunrise remains on track for Q4 this year and the Sunrise management team will host a Capital Markets Day in Zurich on September 9. We have also confirmed our intention to pay a CHF 240 million dividend in 2025.
- In the U.K. we announced a new, long-term mobile network sharing and spectrum acquisition agreement with Vodafone, and our fiber reach is now over 5 million homes and ramping. Preparations for the formation of our fixed NetCo are progressing well.
- We’ve reached a fixed network sharing MOU with Proximus in Belgium, secured 5G spectrum in the Netherlands at an attractive price, and excited to welcome Stephen van Rooyen, formerly of Sky, as CEO at VodafoneZiggo.
- We continue to rotate capital in our Ventures portfolio, independently valued at $3.0 billion, following the ~$420 million in proceeds we received from the sale of our stake in All3Media. We also announced our intention to take a controlling position in the world’s fastest growing motorsport, Formula E.
Our value creation strategy is supported by our robust balance sheet and disciplined capital allocation model. We have $3.5 billion of cash and a long-term, fixed-rate debt profile with no material maturities until 2028. As part of our ongoing commitment to shareholder remuneration, we’ve repurchased ~5% of our shares outstanding through July 19th against our target of up to 10% of shares by year-end.
Against a highly competitive backdrop in the U.K. our strategy of focusing on value over volume, as well as successful implementation of the price rise, supported a recovery in fixed ARPU. In Switzerland, we’re continuing to build operating momentum in both the main brand and flanker brands, supporting continued growth in broadband net adds and strong growth in mobile postpaid. We delivered a standout performance in the Netherlands during the quarter, supported by the fixed price rise and solid growth in mobile and B2B. In Belgium, as anticipated, a tough comp from the prior year did impact financial performance, but we continue to drive strong fixed ARPU growth, and we’re seeing good trading performance following the launch of our BASE FMC offering nationwide. We are confirming today all 2024 guidance metrics, with the exception of VMO2 revenue, which moves from ‘stable to decline’ to ‘low to mid-single-digit decline’, reflecting the continued pressure on low-margin mobile hardware revenues.”
Read the full release here.