Liberty Global posts Q1 loss
May 10, 2023
Liberty Global earnings were negative in Q1, posting a loss of $713.5 million (€650.3m) from continuing operations. Adjusted EBITDA was down by 6 per cent to $624.5 million. The company says it suffered from was a combination of subscriber losses and rising energy and labour costs in the quarter.
Meanwhile, Liberty revealed it plans to change jurisdiction from UK to Bermuda to avoid “complex English corporate laws” and align with its US NASDAQ listing and expectations of US shareholders.
The company lost 36,900 TV customers in the quarter. Internet subs nudged up by 3,600 in Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland, Slovakia and Luxembourg. Virgin Media O2 in the UK added 28,800 broadband subs while VodafoneZiggo in the Netherlands lost 8,500.
Overall, Liberty Global’s customer base dropped by 16,500 over the quarter, compared with losses of 3,900 for the same period a year ago. This was despite significant gains in mobile, particularly in Switzerland. At the end of March, Liberty Global had 9.181 million revenue-generating units, with Virgin Media O2 adding 13 million and VodafoneZiggo 8.653 million.
VMO2 the UK JV added 28,800 broadband and 297,000 total mobile connections in the quarter. VMO2 saw revenues rise by 3.9 per cent to £2.6 billion (€2.9bn) and adjusted EBITDA go up by 2 per cent to £950 million.
Liberty Global posted revenues of $1.868 billion for the quarter, up 1%, while adjusted EBITDA came in at $624.5 million. CEO Mike Fries said “Our Q1 performance demonstrates that the need for reliable high-quality connectivity remains strong across our footprint. This commercial momentum supports our commitment to investing in our market-leading fixed and mobile networks and driving product innovation to ensure an exceptional customer experience.”