Altice still under pressure to make Europe work

Revenues are down across the continent, but telecoms group Altice is pointing to healthy mobile acquisitions in France as a glimmer of hope.

With France accounting for almost 2/3 of total revenues across the now separated European business, Altice could use some good news. Promotions might have taken a bite out of the spreadsheets, but with 1.3 million subscription gains in 2018, the management team is suggesting there might be an end to the gloom.

“In 2018, we have completed the reorganization and simplification of Altice Europe’s structure, with the separation of Altice USA from Altice NV effective on June 8 and a drastic management change,” said Patrick Drahi, founder of Altice. “Altice Europe has achieved all of its FY 2018 guidance, with the successful operational turnaround leading to very strong subscriber trends.

“The significant and continued investments in both fixed and mobile networks, as well as the consistent improvements in customer care, led to a material reduction in complaints from customers and significantly lower churn rates on all technologies. We already see a tangible inflection in Portugal and France, paving the way for growth in 2019, underpinned by our strategy in infrastructure and content.”

While Altice is still not out of the woods, the 1.3 million adds across 2018 surpasses the customer churn the business has been swallowing since its acquisition of SFR in 2015. The management team is also bragging about a 30% reduction in churn, Q4 2018 vs. Q4 2017, and an improvement in network quality metrics, customer satisfaction increased 20% year-on-year for the final quarter.

The company does seem to be heading in the right direction, but you have to place some context on the situation. Debt currently stands at €28.8 billion, more than double the annual revenues of the business, suggesting there might be a few divestment quests over the short- to medium-term future.