DGAP-News:Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG: Preliminary results for January to March 2017

DGAP-News: Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG / Key word(s): Preliminary Results/Quarter Results Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG: Preliminary results for January to March 2017 05.05.2017 / 07:29 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
MUNICH, 05 May 2017 Preliminary results for January to March 2017 Telefónica Deutschland maintains solid operating momentum in a dynamic environment; pushing transformation agenda - Solid momentum for O2 Free and further signs of easing competitive pressure in the non-premium segment; underlying MSR [1] shows further sequential improvement (-0.6 year-on-year) - Solid OIBDA [2] growth (+2.1% year-on-year) on the back of an additional EUR 35 million of Opex and revenue-related synergies - Reiterating full-year outlook; strong Cash Flow dynamics support mid-term dividend growth and proposal of EUR 0.25/share to the AGM on 9 May 2017 - Pushing transformation agenda organically and inorganically with acquisition of retail data analysis business Minodes to build momentum in ADA First quarter 2017 operational & financial highlights - Mobile postpaid registered 172 thousand net additions; partner trading slowing sequentially with 55% share of gross adds after recent price increases. Contract churn remained stable quarter-on-quarter at 1.6%, reflecting the sustained focus on customer base development. - Mobile prepaid saw 183 thousand net additions with a strong performance from partners. - The LTE customer base passed the 14.0 million mark, posting strong sequential and annual growth of +15.8% and +60.7% respectively, supported by our successful data monetisation strategy. Data usage for LTE customers in O2 consumer postpaid continued to benefit from the demand for music and video streaming and grew 9% quarter-on-quarter to 1.8 GB per month, up 52% year-on-year. - Revenues fell -4.7% lower year-on-year to EUR 1,771 million, mainly driven by mobile service revenues. The latter fell -3.3% year-on-year to EUR 1,292 million, mainly as a result of regulatory effects in the form of a reduction of termination rates and the European roaming legislation, which caused a drag of EUR 35 million. Excluding these effects, mobile service revenues improved sequentially to -0.6% vs -0.9% year-on-year in the prior quarter. - Trends in handset and fixed-line revenues were unchanged with slowing handset replacement cycles driving a -5.4% year-on-year reduction in handset revenues and the effects from the decommissioning of ULL infrastructure, resulting in a -11.9% yearly reduction in fixed-line revenues. - OIBDA excluding exceptional effects [3] increased 2.1% year-on-year to EUR 401 million, driven by EUR 35 million of additional Opex and revenue-related savings froms synergies. This was partly offset by commercial and other investments, notably in the positioning of O2 Free and customer service. - CapEx [4] amounted to EUR 208 million, -4.5% lower year-on-year, as we generated approx. 10 million of Capex-related synergies from the network consolidation and continued with the subsequent LTE roll-out. - Consolidated net financial debt [5] came to EUR 836 million at the end of March 2017 with a leverage of 0.5x, in line with the stated target of at or below 1.0x. - On 4 May 2017 Telefónica Next acquired start-up Minodes, which specialises in intelligent data analysis in retail, supporting our Advanced Data Analysis and transformation effort. Progress of integration and transformation activities We continue to successfully execute our integration activities, targeting a cumulated total of EUR 900 million operating cash flow savings in 2019. Our core project in 2017, the network consolidation, is progressing well. We have already finalised the consolidation in a number of areas in Southern Germany and are continually pushing ahead with the integration effort. After several trials, we have now launched a new software, SON - synonymous for Self-Organising Network - enabling flexible network capacity management with a focus on real-time capabilities. Our Service Operations Centre, which we set up in cooperation with Huawei, further supports our ability to react to customer demand fluctuations fast and effectively. Customer service is the key principle of our network development plan. We are also running 5G trials and have already been able to achieve speeds of 1.65 Gbps in our testing environment 'TechCity' in Munich. In addition, we have successfully run our first 3.5 GHz LTE TDD Massive MIMO field test (a multi antenna technology based on smaller antenna elements), reaching a download link rate of 640 Mbps Furthermore, we also continue to work towards completing the outstanding integration workstreams, such as the remaining FTE restructuring and shop/facility reduction, where we are progressing according to plan. Transformation: Opportunities beyond Connectivity Parallel to our core business, we are working on innovative digital solutions. In 2016 Telefónica Deutschland founded Telefónica NEXT to provide innovative consumer insight based solutions to better address customer needs in a connected digital world. Core focus areas are targeted communication (Smart Media), decision-making based on customer movements (Smart moves), the customer journey (Smart Retail) and the development of smart products for customers (Smart Sensor solutions) based on our Geeny platform. With Advanced Data Analytics (ADA), the company is leveraging the considerable social and economic benefits from the analysis of large data pools. Big data will drive business solutions of the future. We are also committed to ensuring that our customers retain control over their data and can shape their digital life with confidence. The acquisition of Minodes, which specialises in smart retail, is a case in point. The company analyses anonymous data streams by reading and encrypting customer WiFi signals in shopping areas. Minodes is thus able to deliver business insights, all the while protecting customer privacy. In the context of business solutions built around the Internet of Things (IoT), we are optimising business processes by connecting machines and vehicles to enable them to communicate with each other. Here we are currently building an IoT platform which helps companies develop their own IoT propositions in a fast and cost-efficient manner. Commercial update Telefónica Deutschland saw a dynamic first quarter of 2017 with a range of commercial activities to support our market position. - After the launch of our O2 Free portfolio in October 2016, we have now also relaunched our O2 prepaid offer with high-speed data and EU roaming for our customers - O2 Banking now offers the first biometric SecureCode system for secure identification in Germany - At the end of April we also launched new O2 DSL tariffs, offering more bandwidth across the tariff range and speeds of up to 100 Mbps - A customer survey by focus Money and Focus online showed that ALDI TALK has a competitive product offering attracting extremely loyal and satisfied customers, showing the value of our discount segment partnerships - In the business space, Telefónica Deutschland signed a cooperation with QSC AG, offering our customers competitive internet, VPN and voice services - At the end of the first quarter Telefónica Deutschland attended the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and the Cebit in Hannover, successfully presenting Telefónica NEXT and a range of innovative business solutions Financial Outlook 2017 The financial outlook for 2017 remains unchanged as published in the 2016 Annual Financial Report: Base line Outlook 2017 2016 (EUR (year-on-year) million) Mobile Service Revenues 5,437 Slightly negative to underlying[1][6] 1. flat #footnote_6 OIBDA before exceptional 1,793 Flat to effects[1][7] 1. mid-single-digit % #footnote_7 growth CapEx 1,102 Around EUR 1 billion Dividend[1][8] 1. 0.25 EUR per Annual dividend growth #footnote_8 share for 3 years (2016 to 2018) Telefónica Deutschland operating performance in the first quarter of 2017 As of 31 March 2017 Telefónica Deutschland had 49.5 million customer accesses (+2.7% year-on-year) driven by a 3.9% year-on-year increase in the mobile base, which stood at 44.7 million. In addition to our existing customer metrics, we are also introducing a customer access count based on market standards for inactivity. Based on this metric, we have a total of 47.9 million mobile customer accesses. In the fixed business, the retail DSL customer base was broadly stable year-on-year (-0.3%) at 2.1 million accesses, while wholesale DSL accesses declined further (-18.7% quarter-on-quarter) due to the planned dismantling of the legacy ULL platform by 2019. Mobile postpaid saw 172 thousand net additions in the first quarter of 2017 compared to 181 thousand in the same period of 2016. Partner brands contributed 55% of gross adds in the quarter vs 58% in the fourth quarter, reflecting the improvement in the discount pricing environment. At the same time, Telefónica Deutschland maintained its strategic focus on customer base development and retention, leveraging the positive customer response to O2 Free. At the end of March, our mobile postpaid base was 20.7 million accesses, up +7.5% year-on-year, bringing the postpaid share of total mobile customers to 46.4% (+1.6 percentage points year-on-year). Mobile prepaid registered 183 thousand net additions in the period January to March with a strong performance from partners, bringing the customer base to 24.0 million (+0.9% year-on-year). Both the O2 consumer brand and postpaid churn remained broadly stable quarter-on-quarter at 1.6%, reflecting our successful brand management and retention focus. Smartphone penetration [9] across brands and segments was 1.6 percentage points higher year-on-year at 57.0% as of the end of March. The LTE customer base benefitted from the high demand for high-speed mobile access across all segments and posted another quarter of strong growth, up 15.8% quarter-on-quarter to 14.0 million accesses as of 31 March 2017. The ARPU was impacted by the regulatory changes which outweighed accretive effects from O2 Free in the first quarter of 2017. The blended mobile ARPU came to EUR 9.6, down -6.7% year-on-year, while the postpaid ARPU fell -6.2% year-on-year to EUR 15.5. The prepaid ARPU continues to be affected by the prepaid to postpaid dynamic resulting from postpaid pricing levels in the discount segment and fell -12.4% year-on-year to EUR 5.0. The retail fixed broadband customer base was broadly flat year-on-year at 2.1 million accesses (-0.3% year-on-year). The quarter saw -9 thousand net disconnection, while the demand for VDSL remained strong with 67 thousand net additions. Fixed wholesale accesses continued to decline as expected (129 thousand net disconnections) due to the planned decommissioning of the ULL broadband access infrastructure, ending the quarter at 562 thousand accesses. Telefónica Deutschland financial performance in the first quarter of 2017 Revenues were -4.7% lower year-on-year at EUR 1,771 million, mainly driven by regulatory headwinds for mobile services revenues as well as continued trends in the fixed business. Mobile service revenues were EUR 1,292 million, -3.3% year-on-year on a reported basis. Excluding regulatory effects from termination and roaming of EUR 35 million, mobile service revenues sequentially improved to -0.6% vs -0.9% year-on-year in the prior quarter. We continued to face top-line headwinds from the retail to wholesale mix-shift as well as legacy base effects in a dynamic competitive environment, which continued to overshadow benefits from the successful marketing of O2 Free to new and existing customers. Mobile data revenues fell -1,9% year-on-year to EUR 716 million for the period January to March, mainly on the back of continued OTT trends. Non-SMS data revenues as a percentage of data revenues increased 4.0 percentage points year-on-year to 79.4% and amounted to EUR 568 million, an increase of +3.3% year-on-year. Quarter-on-quarter non-SMS revenues fell -2.6%, with this decline mainly relating to the customer integration and the associated allocation of data revenues. Handset revenues fell -5.4% year-on-year to EUR 252 million, mainly due to a lower demand for handsets in line with general market trends. Fixed revenues trend saw a further year-on-year decline of -11.9% to EUR 223 million. Fixed retail revenues benefitted from the continued strong performance of VDSL and contributed -2.1% to the year-on-year decline, a further sequential improvement. The fixed wholesale revenues decline continued to accelerate on the back of the planned dismantling of the legacy infrastructure, contributing -5.9% to the year-on-year decline. [10] Other income was EUR 27.8 million compared to EUR 30.6 million in the first quarter of 2016. Operating expenses fell -6.6% year-on-year to EUR 1,409 million for the three months ended 31 March 2017, mainly driven by savings from integration projects. Restructuring costs of EUR 11 million were related to the leaver programme and the network consolidation. - Cost for supplies came to EUR 585 million, down -7.0% year-on-year. Thereof, hardware cost of sales (47% of supplies) were broadly stable year-on-year, while connectivity-related cost of sales (42% of supplies) were lower year-on-year on the back of the mobile termination rate reduction in December 2016. - Personnel expenses came to EUR 155 million including restructuring costs of EUR 7 million, a reduction of -10.4% year-on-year, primarily on the back of the successful execution of the employee restructuring programme. - Other operating expenses totalled EUR 669 million including restructuring costs of EUR 4 million, a decrease of -5.4% year-on-year. Commercial costs and non-commercial costs made up 61% and 36% respectively. Savings from integration were partly offset by higher commercial investments into the positioning of O2 Free. Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortisation (OIBDA) in the first quarter of 2017 amounted to EUR 390 million compared to EUR 379 million in the prior year. OIBDA excluding exceptional effects [11] rose 2.1 % year-on-year to EUR 401 million with in-year savings from OPEX & revenue-related integration activities amounting to approx. EUR 35 million. The OIBDA margin increased by 1.5 percentage points year-on-year to 22.6%. Group fees amounted to EUR 10 million in the first quarter of 2017. Depreciation & Amortisation came to EUR 481 million in the first three month of 2017, compared to the EUR 540 million in prior year. The decrease is the result of the accelerated amortisation of software assets in 2016 due to IT integration measures, lower depreciation of property, plant and equipment due to the sale of the passive tower infrastructure, as well as the expiration of various spectrum licenses in 2016. The operating loss for the period was EUR 91 million (vs. EUR -161 million in the same period of 2016), as depreciation & amortisation expenses continued to exceed OIBDA. The net financial loss for the first quarter of 2017 amounted to EUR 8 million, which was broadly stable year-on-year. The Company did not incur any income tax expense for the three months ended 31 March 2017. The net loss for the period came to EUR 99 million compared to EUR 170 million in prior year. CapEx11 fell -4.5% year-on-year to EUR 208 million as we generated approx. EUR 10 million of Capex-related synergies from the network consolidation and continued with the subsequent LTE roll-out. Operating cash flow (OIBDA minus CapEx) [12] for the first three months of 2017 was EUR 181 million, up 12.9% year-on-year. Free Cash Flow (FCF) [13] for the first quarter of 2017 was negative in the amount of EUR 1 million as a result of working capital effects. Working capital movements were negative EUR 177 million were primarily driven by seasonal prepayments for leased lines and rental contracts for mobile sites of EUR 201 million, as well as other recurring working capital movements, which include silent factoring transactions as well as other factoring transactions. Consolidated net financial debt [14] amounted to at EUR 836 million at the end of March 2017, up EUR 38 million since 31 December 2016; maintiaing a broadly stable leverage ratio of 0.5x. APPENDIX - DATA TABLES Please refer to the following link to access the download of the data tables. Thank you. https://www.telefonica.de/investor-relations-en/financial-publications/q1-2017.html Further information Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG Investor Relations Georg-Brauchle-Ring 23-25 80992 München Veronika Bunk-Sanderson, Director Investor Relations Marion Polzer, Senior Manager Investor Relations Markus Block, Senior Investor Relations Officer Pia Hildebrand, Investor Relations Officer Saskia Puth, Office Manager Investor Relations (t) +49 89 2442 1010 ir-deutschland@telefonica.com www.telefonica.de/investor-relations Disclaimer: This document contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements and expectations about Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG (in the following "the Company" or "Telefónica Deutschland") that reflect the current views and assumptions of Telefónica Deutschland's management with respect to future events, including financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives and expectations which may refer, among others, to the intent, belief or current prospects of the customer base, estimates regarding, among others, future growth in the different business lines and the global business, market share, financial results and other aspects of the activity and situation relating to the Company. Forward-looking statements are based on current plans, estimates and projections. The forward-looking statements in this document can be identified, in some instances, by the use of words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "believes", and similar language or the negative thereof or by forward-looking nature of discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Such forward-looking statements, by their nature, are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond Telefónica Deutschland's control and other important factors that could cause actual developments or results to materially differ from those expressed in or implied by the Company's forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include those discussed or identified in fuller disclosure documents filed by Telefónica Deutschland with the relevant Securities Markets Regulators, and in particular, with the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht - BaFin). The Company offers no assurance that its expectations or targets will be achieved. Analysts and investors, and any other person or entity that may need to take decisions, or prepare or release opinions about the shares / securities issued by the Company, are cautioned not to place undue reliance on those forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this document. Past performance cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance. Except as required by applicable law, Telefónica Deutschland undertakes no obligation to revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events and circumstances after the date of this presentation, including, without limitation, changes in Telefónica Deutschland's business or strategy or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. The financial information and opinions contained in this document are unaudited and are subject to change without notice. This document contains summarised information or information that has not been audited. In this sense, this information is subject to, and must be read in conjunction with, all other publicly available information, including if it is necessary, any fuller disclosure document published by Telefónica Deutschland. None of the Company, its subsidiaries or affiliates or by any of its officers, directors, employees, advisors, representatives or agents shall be liable whatsoever for any loss however arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of this document its content or otherwise arising in connection with this document. This document or any of the information contained herein do not constitute, form part of or shall be construed as an offer or invitation to purchase, subscribe, sale or exchange, nor a request for an offer of purchase, subscription, sale or exchange of shares / securities of the Company, or any advice or recommendation with respect to such shares / securities. This document or a part of it shall not form the basis of or relied upon in connection with any contract or commitment whatsoever. These written materials are especially not an offer of securities for sale or a solicitation of an offer to purchase securities in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Japan. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or an exemption there from. No money, securities or other consideration from any person inside the United States is being solicited and, if sent in response to the information contained in these written materials, will not be accepted. [1] Excluding the impact from regulatory changes in form of the termination rate effect and the glide path of the European roaming regulation [2] Excluding exceptional effects. The three months ending 31 March 2017 include restructuring expenses of EUR 11 million, while the same period of 2016 included restructuring expenses of EUR 23 million. For 2016, we have calculated an OIBDA comparable, which includes the operating lease-related effects from the sale of Telefónica Deutschlands passive tower infrastructure as if it had occurred on 1 January 2016 [3] Excluding exceptional effects. The three months ending 31 March 2017 include restructuring expenses of EUR 11 million, while the same period of 2016 included restructuring expenses of EUR 23 million. For 2016, we have calculated an OIBDA comparable, which includes the operating lease related effects from the sale of Telefónica Deutschland's passive tower infrastructure as if it had occurred on 1 January 2016 [4] Excluding capitalised costs on borrowed capital for investments in spectrum in June 2015 both in the first three months of 2017 and 2016 [5] Net financial debt includes current and non-current interest-bearing financial assets and interest-bearing liabilities as well as cash and cash equivalents and excludes the payables for the spectrum auction [6] The impact from regulatory changes in form of the termination rate effects and the glide path of the European roaming legislation are excluded from the MSR guidance. Alltogether these effects will result in a drag on 2017 MSR of approx. 3-4% year-on-year. [7] Exceptional effects such as restructuring costs are excluded from our OIBDA guidance. For 2016, we have calculated an OIBDA comparable, which includes the operating lease-related effects from the sale of Telefónica Deutschland's passive tower infrastructure as if it had occurred on 1 January 2016 [8] For 2016: Proposal to the Annual General Meeting on 9 May 2017 [9] Defined as the number of active mobile data tariffs over total mobile customer base, excluding M2M and data-only accesses [10] Please note a change in the definition of the fixed retail/wholesale split, which better reflects revenue allocation across segments [11] Excluding exceptional effects. The three months ending 31 March 2017 include restructuring expenses of EUR 11 million, while the same period of 2016 included restructuring expenses of EUR 23 million. For 2016, we have calculated an OIBDA comparable, which includes the operating lease related effects from the sale of Telefónica Deutschlands passive tower infrastructure as if it had occurred on 1 January 2016 [12] Excluding capitalised costs on borrowed capital for investments in spectrum in June 2015 for the first three months of 2017 and 2016 [13] Free cash flow pre dividends and payments for spectrum (FCF) is defined as the sum of cash flows from operating activities and cash flows from investing activities [14] Net financial debt includes current and non-current interest bearing financial assets and interest bearing liabilities as well as cash and cash equivalents and excludes payables for the spectrum auction
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Language: English Company: Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG Georg-Brauchle-Ring 23-25 80992 München Germany Phone: +49 (0)89 24 42 0 Internet: www.telefonica.de ISIN: DE000A1J5RX9 WKN: A1J5RX Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange TecDAX End of News DGAP News Service
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