Altice Portugal revenues up 13% in H1 to €1.417B

Altice Portugal’s revenues grew 13% in the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2022, to €1.417 billion and investment rose 2.5%, the owner of Meo announced on Monday.

In the second quarter, revenues rose 11.8% year-on-year to €718 million after having recorded revenues of €699 million in the first three months of the year.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached €500 million in the first half, 10% more than a year earlier.

In the second quarter, EBITDA totalled €254 million (€245 million in the first quarter), an increase of 9.5% compared to the same period in 2022.

Investment rose 2.5% in the first half to €231 million.

In the second quarter, investment was €120 million, “reaffirming Altice Portugal’s commitment to the expansion of new generation networks, registering a decrease of -1.9% over the same period of the previous year”, the company said in a statement.

Revenues and EBITDA “once again (registered) a solid financial performance in the second quarter of 2023”, with Altice Portugal maintaining “its growth trajectory in this area, “sustained by a diversified and innovative portfolio of products and services, based on the best available technology and new generation networks, providing its customers with a superior quality experience”, adds the owner of Meo.

Altice Portugal “remains at the forefront of innovation and technological progress, reaching” in the second quarter “95.0% of the population with 5G and 6.3 million homes passed with fibre, homes and businesses, throughout the country”, it adds.

In the second quarter, “operational performance continues to show a positive trend” and “customer acquisition remains sustained, allowing the fixed services base to increase by +4.9% over the last 12 months, with the subscription television service customer base growing by +3.9%”.

All Altice Portugal’s segments and business lines “grew revenues in the second quarter of 2023, as a result of the continued expansion of the customer base, the diversification of the portfolio of increasingly digital services, the focus on innovation and quality of service, factors that proved to be decisive for the positive evolution recorded”.

Revenues from the consumer segment “totalled €336 million in the second quarter of 2023, showing year-on-year growth of +5.0%” and the unique customer base “continued to expand and increased by +1.3% compared to the same period of the previous year, +21 thousand net additions in 12 months, totalling 1.7 million”.

Revenues from the business services segment “totalled 382 million this quarter, representing a year-on-year increase of +18.6%, driven mainly by the growth of Geodesia and Altice Labs”.

EBITDA growth in the second quarter was underpinned by “revenue growth in€ core services and new business lines, but also by continued discipline in operating costs”.

Investment in the second quarter reinforced “the continued focus on the mobile network, on state-of-the-art core infrastructures and the expansion of the fibre optic network in Portugal”, the company said.

The focus on strengthening the mobile network, “and in particular on the implementation of 5G technology, led to an increase in the coverage rate of the Portuguese population from 48.9% at the end of the first quarter of 2022 to 95.0% in the second quarter of 2023, maintaining the 4G coverage rate of the national population at 99.9%”.

The results of this quarter “confirm Altice Portugal’s commitment to its mission of leading the technological and digital transformation in Portugal, through innovation, promoting a more humane society and connecting people to a more innovative, inclusive and sustainable life”, the company said.