Despite the loss of subscribers, SFR jumped stock exchange – Express

SFR sees red. The operator [also owns L'Express], a subsidiary of Altice Group, suffered a first half net loss of 84 million euros, due to a “loss of subscribers in one year.” That compares with the 828 million euros of net profit reaped a year earlier.

In the first half 2016, the brand saw its sales fall by 4.2% to € 5.3 billion, and its gross operating income (EBITDA) adjusted down from 7.6% to 1.84 billion euros, according to a statement released Tuesday.

If these poor results could be fear of negative consequences on the financial markets, it is not. Since the opening of the stock market on Tuesday, the title shows a gain of nearly 10% (+ 9.89% at 15 hours). This is its biggest gain of the year! “Sales and EBITDA were slightly above expectations” in the second quarter, but the group is “still struggling” with regard to the activity for individuals “particularly in mobile telephony,” has stressed the investment bank Bryan Garnier Tuesday.

199 000 mobile subscribers in less

With regard to high speed broadband (fiber), the operator points to a net recruitment of 44,000 new subscribers the second quarter, though lower than in previous quarters. But at the same time, he also announced to have lost 199,000 mobile subscribers in the consumer market. The fall is even 861,000 a year!

On the fixed, SFR 58,000 broadband subscribers in less between March and June. In both cases, however, the group observed an improvement in ARPU. Swelling the average revenue through additional services is even one of the pillars of the strategy of SFR.

As of June 30, the group claims a total of 16.64 million mobile subscribers (consumer and business), against 17.4 million a year earlier. The decrease relates primarily to the general public: the number of subscribers in this category has increased over the same period to 14.58 million, against 15.24 million a year earlier. In the fixed, the number of customers is also down, to 6.23 million subscribers against 6.4 million a year earlier. But the group is experiencing growth in high-speed broadband customers (1.92 million against 1.66 million in 2015).

Savings Plan and Investment

Given the decline in subscribers, SFR highlights an increase of 37.2% of expenditures in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, to 572 million euros. The main objective is to finance the development of 4G and fiber deployment. In parallel, an agreement for a voluntary redundancy plan (5,000 jobs lost by 2019) has been approved by the CFDT and Unsa, majority between them. In words, the operator hopes to achieve 400 million euros in savings per year.

For the full year, SFR continues to expect an improvement in sales “based on the evolution of recent operational performance,” said the group, including a further increase in customers very high speed fixed and mobile. It remains only to win new customers. For this, SFR lot of TV rights of football championship of England gained from this year. And on the development of its SFR Press.