07/29/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/28/2021 23:58
Updated outlook for revenue, EBITDA and cash-flow in 2021 due to early completion of certain acquisitions
Since January deals announced in France, the Netherlands and Poland, with an associated investment of c.€9 billion
Completion of the integration of CK Hutchison's assets in Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Sweden; integration of Play and Polkomtel Infrastruktura in Poland; and merger of telecommunications tower business in the Netherlands with DT
Completion of the acquisition of Hivory in France and the integration of the assets of CK Hutchison in the UK are pending regulatory approval
Barcelona, 29 July 2021.- Cellnex Telecom today announces its financial results for the first half of 2021. Revenue totalled €1,061 million (+47% vs H1 2020) and adjusted EBITDA grew to €804 million (+53% vs H1 2020) reflecting, along with organic growth, the effect of consolidation of the assets it acquired in 2020 and in the early months of 2021. Recurring Levered Free Cash Flow was €394 million (+47% vs H1 2020).
The net accounting result was negative at -€67 million euros due to the higher amortisations (+60% vs H1 2020) and financial costs (+88% vs H1 2020) associated with the Group's ongoing process of acquisitions and the consequent geographic expansion.
Tobias Martínez, CEO of Cellnex highlighted 'a first half marked by the completion of several acquisitions announced in 2020 and in 2021; new agreements in France, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal; and our recent rights issue which received significant support from our shareholders. This has allowed us to continue seizing new expansive growth opportunities, as well as build on organic growth in excess of 5% for the period which saw increased revenue, EBITDA and recurring cash flow. We are pleased that several acquisitions completed earlier than previously expected, and so have revised our outlook for the full year, with revenues expected to exceed €2.5 billion and expected EBITDA of more than €1.9 billion. '
Business lines: Key indicators for the period
Debt structure
Cellnex has a debt structure that is flexible, low cost and with a high average maturity, owing to the various instruments used.
Period featuring the conclusion of operations and the announcement of new growth agreements
In 2021 Cellnexannounced growth operations in France (Hivory), the Netherlands (DT sites) and Poland (Polkomtel Infrastruktura) with an associated investment of c.€9 billion.
It has also announced an expanded partnership with MEO in Portugal through the acquisition of 223 sites and 464 DAS and Small Cells that will be spun off from the Portuguese mobile operator's tower division. This transaction amounted to an investment of €209 million.
Of the series of transactions announced in the last 10 months, the Company has already concluded:
The Company has thereby consolidated c.18,600 sites out of the total of 24,600 included in the agreement announced in November 2020, with only the agreement in the United Kingdom, which is expected for the first half of 2022, still to be concluded.
The whole operation is worth €10 billion, and the agreements also envisage the roll-out of up to 5,300 new sites over the next eight years, with an investment of a further €1.1 billion.
At the end of March 2021, Cellnex concluded its deal to purchase a network of c.7,000 sites from Play, a subsidiary of Iliad, in Poland. The acquisition was first announced in October 2020. After receiving clearance from the competition authorities, the Company formalised the acquisition for c.€800 million which included a 60% controlling stake in the company that will now be managing these sites. This new Polish telecommunications infrastructure operator, controlled by Cellnex, plans to invest up to €1.3 billion in rolling out up to 5,000 new sites over the next ten years in Poland.
Likewise, in early July the Company concluded the agreement with Cyfrowy Polsat - announced in February - for the acquisition of 99.99% of its telecommunications infrastructure subsidiary, Polkomtel Infrastruktura, following the clearance from the Polish competition authority (UKOiK). Polkomtel operates passive infrastructure (c.7,000 towers and telecommunications sites) and active infrastructure (c.37,000 radio carriers providing coverage for all the bands used by 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G, and 11,300 km of fibre backbone network and fibre to the tower (backhaul), supplemented by a national network of microwave radio links. The operation involves an investment of €1,600 million, plus an additional programme to roll out up to about 1,500 sites, together with investments in active equipment, mainly for the roll-out of 5G, for a further €600 million or so over the next 10 years.
In early June, after receiving the clearance from the competition authorities, Cellnex and Deutsche Telekom concluded the agreement, which was announced in January, to merge their telecommunications tower business in the Netherlands and create an independently managed digital-infrastructure investment fund. Cellnex Netherlands now operates a total of 4,310 sites, including c.240 new sites to be rolled out over the next 7 years, of which 180 agreed with DT.
Pending regulatory approvals: In addition to the deal with CK Hutchinson in the UK, in February 2021 Cellnex reached an agreement with Altice France and Starlight Holdco for the acquisition of Hivory in France, the telecommunications tower operator that manages the 10,500 sites which mainly serve SFR. The agreement will cost Cellnex €5.2 billion, and will be accompanied by an eight-year programme worth a further €900 million for the roll-out of up to 2,500 new sites, among other projects.
Once all the current acquisition and roll-out agreements have been concluded, Cellnex will be operating more than 130,000 telecommunications towers and sites in a total of 12 European countries.
Updated Outlook for 2021
As a result of the acquisitions carried out by the Company and its progressive integration of these assets and companies into the Group - some ahead of schedule - Cellnex has updated its forecasts for key indicators (revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free and recurring cash flow) for the fiscal year 2021:
About Cellnex Telecom
Cellnex Telecom is Europe's leading operator of wireless telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructure, with a portfolio of c. 130,000 sites, some 93,000 of which are already operational, and the rest in the process of conclusion or planned roll-outs up to 2030. Cellnex operates in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Poland.
Cellnex's business is structured into four major areas: telecommunications infrastructure services; audiovisual broadcasting networks, security and emergency service networks and solutions for smart urban infrastructure and services management (Smart cities and the 'Internet of Things' (IoT)).
The company is listed on the continuous market of the Spanish stock exchange and is part of the selective IBEX 35 and EuroStoxx 600 indices. It is also included in the main sustainability indexes such as CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), Sustainalytics, FTSE4GOOD, MSCI and Standard Ethics.
Cellnex's reference shareholders include GIC, Edizione, Canada Pension Plan, CriteriaCaixa, Wellington Management Group, Capital Group, Blackrock, Fidelity and Norges Bank.
For more information: https://www.cellnextelecom.com