VIENNA -- Results for First Half Year 2018: Free cash flow grows by 35%.

Alejandro Plater, CEO and COO of the A1 Telekom Austria Group, comments on the key financial highlights in the 1st half-year 2018

“Our growth strategy continued to deliver success in the first half of 2018. Despite a highly competitive environment and the challenging regulatory framework our operating performance remained convincing. Group revenues and EBITDA showed a stable development. The reported net result of course was negatively impacted by D&A related to the Group-wide roll-out of the A1 brand. Excluding the accounting effect of this extraordinary brand amortisation, the net result rose by 22%. Our free cash flow recorded significant growth of 35%. This strong cash flow generation and strong credit metrics prompted the rating agency Moody´s to upgrade our rating recently from Baa2 to Baa1.”

Highlights for the first half of 2018 – proforma (1)
Group total revenues increased by 1.3% (reported: +1.6%). Excluding FX and the one-off effects total revenues grew by 3.1% (reported: +3.4%), with service revenue growth in all markets except for Slovenia.

Excluding FX and the minor one-off effects (restructuring charges had basically no impact), Group EBITDA increased by 3.3% (reported: 3.6%), as the solid fixed-line performance was able to offset investments into A1 Digital and increased workforce costs as well as higher content costs.

Net result grew by 22.5% in the first half of 2018 excluding D&A from the amortisation of the brand of EUR 173.5 mn (reported net result 1-6 M 2018: EUR 82.5 mn; 1-6 M 2017: EUR 208.9 mn).

Reported capital expenditures decreased by 10.8% year-on-year to EUR 313.4 mn in the first half of 2018, mainly driven by lower investments in Slovenia and Bulgaria.

Reported free cash flow increased by 35.4% to EUR 205.7 mn in the first half of 2018.

Group outlook 2018 unchanged: total revenue growth of 1-2% (on a reported basis), CAPEX (2) of approx. EUR 750 mn.

Telekom Austria Group