UK shines for Liberty Global in Q3

The UK market proved to a be a success over the last three months for Liberty Global, though the same could not be said for the Belgium and Swiss operations.

Total revenues for the quarter stood at $2.9 billion, a 1.3% increase, with the UK business posting 3.6% growth. While this might sound positive, this is compared to 10.8% for the nine months of 2018 proving there is appetite in the UK for a full-fibre diet. Unfortunately, the success could not be replicated elsewhere, with the Belgium business dropping year-on-year revenues by 1.5% and the bottom falling out of the Swiss bucket with a 8.1% decrease.

“The Swiss market remains challenging but we have a number of initiatives that we believe will improve performance,” said CEO Mike Fries. “Our turnaround plan is underpinned by revamped video products, a refreshed MySports programming line-up, the launch of 1 Gig broadband speeds and a new and improved MVNO offering.

“The continued operating and financial momentum at Virgin Media helped fuel our Q3 results. With respect to our U.K. subscriber growth, we generated over 100,000 net additions, which represents a record third quarter performance. This achievement was supported by strong volume growth in both our Project Lightning and legacy footprints.”

Looking specifically at the UK business, cable revenues declined by 0.7% year-on-year to $2 billion, while mobile revenue increased 2.4% to $416 million and enterprise revenues were up 6.1% year-over-year to $491 million. Operating income decreased 4.8% year-over-year to $592 million, though with promising growth on the top-line, and an additional 109,000 subscribers to account for, overall you could say a good three month’s work.

With Liberty Global still on course to dispose of its businesses in Germany and Central Europe to Vodafone, the team might be able to turn more attention to the troublesome Belgians and Swiss.