Interim Results for 6 months to 30 September 2013
· H1 EBITDA1 £76m in line with expectations, reflecting an additional £86m investment in growth
· Strong and accelerating TV growth (+167,000 net adds in Q2); now expect y/e base of nearly 1m
· Continuing growth in broadband net adds (+5,000) and ARPU drive Q2 revenue growth of 1.9%
· Raising FY revenue growth guidance to at least 3% from 2%
· Raising medium term revenue growth target to 4% CAGR (FY14-FY17) from 2%
· Targeting 25% EBITDA margin by FY17
H1 Financial Highlights
· Total revenue up 1.8% to £843m (H1 FY13: £828m)
· On-net revenue up 6.8% to £612m (H1 FY13: £573m); Corporate revenue up 1.3%
· Headline EBITDA1 £76m (H1 FY13: £147m) after £86m investment in scaling new products
· Headline1 EPS 0.8p (H1 FY13: 7.8p);
· Interim Dividend 4.00p (H1 FY13: 3.45p)
Q2 Operating Highlights
· Q2 on-net ARPU up 2.8% to £26.08 (Q2 FY13: £25.37)
· 56,000 fully unbundled net adds; total net adds 5,000
· 167,000 TV customers added, base now 557,000; Essentials TV launched
· 34,000 Mobile customers added; 47,000 Fibre customers added
· On-net churn 1.7% (Q1: 1.4%)
· Continued improvement in call volumes and Ofcom complaints
· Corporate revenue +2.5% including 26% growth in Data revenues
1 Excluding exceptional items and amortisation of acquisition intangibles