SFR revenues declined in the first half – L’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 drop 7.6% to 1.84 billion euros, according to a statement released Tuesday.

More than 16 million subscribers

In the second quarter, the operator announced it lost 199,000 mobile subscribers in the consumer market. 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. Regarding the very high speed, the operator points to a net recruitment of 44,000 new subscribers, less however than in previous quarters.

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).

Investment on 4G and fiber

Given the decline in subscribers, SFR highlights an increase of 37.2% from its spending in the second quarter from 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 separation plan has been validated by the CFDT and Unsa, majority between them.

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.