Brussels, 24 July 2014 – Today, Mobistar (Euronext Brussels: MOBB) publishes its results for the second quarter and first half of 2014.
• Mobistar’s retail customer base stabilised sequentially in the second quarter due to the significant steps made in the overhaul of its distribution channels, the focus on customer experience and the recognition of its best-in-class network quality standards.
• Mobistar increased the number of connected SIM cards on its network in Belgium and Luxembourg by 351,057 year-on-year to reach a total of 5,446,215, thereby highlighting its network leadership in terms of connected SIM cards.
• The accelerated 4G network roll-out and an increasing consumer appetite to use content ‘on-the-go’ resulted in an increase in data traffic, boosted by the uptake of 4G smartphone penetration. The drive test performed by Commsquare in the second quarter confirmed Mobistar’s network leadership in terms of 3G and 4G coverage.
• Mobistar is confident it will be ready technically to deliver cable internet & TV offering through regulated networks by the fourth quarter of 2014. In this respect, Mobistar is urging the regulators to complete the announced review of the wholesale tariffs in due time to foster true and fair competition and to ensure a flawless execution by all cable operators.
• Mobistar’s service revenues and restated EBITDA increased sequentially in the second quarter of 2014 marking a reversal of the declining trend in previous quarters.
• Mobistar delivered on its ACE2 saving program, which is ahead of schedule with more than 36 million euros realised in the first half of 2014.
• The results of the first half of 2014 enabled Mobistar to confirm its outlook for 2014:
· Mobistar reached a total turnover of 629.2 million euros.
· Mobistar reached a restated EBITDA of 140.4 million euros.
· Mobistar reached an operational cash flow of 44.1 million euros.
‘We are very pleased with the outcome of the first half of 2014. Mobistar started the year by confirming best-in-class network voice and data quality standards and in the second quarter, accelerated the roll-out of 4G outperforming competition. We are also pushing the adoption of smartphones and are encouraging our customers to use more and more data. In the first half of 2014 mobile data amounted to 50.4 % of the service revenues in Belgium. The strategic axes on which we made the most progress, the transformation of our distribution channels and the enhancement of Mobistar’s customer journey, already led to an improvement of our net adds. Such progress confirms our path is right and we remain reasonably optimistic going forward.’ commented Jean-Marc Harion (CEO).
Ludovic Pech (CFO) added: ‘We will carry on our determined work to fundamentally transform our company and its cost structure. We believe the market focus is shifting away from simple downward price pressure to attributes such as quality of service and product differentiation. This allows us to work both on the reengineering of our top line, while executing on our savings initiatives with already more than 36 out of 50 million euros realized. At the same time, this gives us the necessary flexibility to invest in future growth initiatives such as regulated cable access.’