Liberty Global Posts Loss in Q2, Revenues Beat Estimates

Liberty Global Plc. LBTYA reported mixed financial results in the second quarter of 2015 wherein the bottom line fell below the Zacks Consensus Estimate while the top line steered past the same.

Quarterly GAAP net loss from continuing operations came in at $409.9 million or a loss of 53 cents per share compared with a net loss of $234 million or loss of 32 cent per share in the prior-year quarter. Second-quarter net loss per share of 53 cents compared unfavorably with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a profit of 5 cents.

Meanwhile, quarterly total revenue of $4,566.5 million was down 0.8% year over year but beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4,544 million.

Cost of operations totaled $3,941.6 million, up 0.2% year over year. However, operating income came in at $624.9 million, down 6.7% year over year. Operating margin stood at 13.7% compared with 14.5% in the year-ago quarter.

In the second quarter of 2015, Liberty Global generated $1,311.9 million of cash from operations compared with $1,596.3 million in the year-ago quarter. Free cash flow, in the reported quarter, was $592.3 million compared with $716.5 million in the prior-year quarter. At the end of the second quarter of 2015, Liberty Global had $819.5 million of cash and cash equivalents and $44,440 million of outstanding debt on its balance sheet compared with $1,158.5 million and $44,608 million, respectively, at the end of 2014.

Subscriber Statistics

As of Jun 30, 2015, Liberty Global had 27.3949 million subscribers, which constitute 52.8717 million RGUs. Of the total, 24.8494 million were video RGUs, 16.3720 million were broadband Internet RGUs and the remaining 13.6503 million were telephony RGUs. Moreover, the company had 4.66 million mobile subscribers with a quarterly addition of 95,800.   

The total Single-Play customer count stood at 10.0849 million, up 2.9% year over year. The total Double-Play subscriber count was 4.1946 million, up 16.2% year over year. The Triple-Play customer base stood at over 11.4659 million, up 19.9% year over year.

During the reported quarter, Liberty Global added a total of 115,300 RGUs, including net gains of 116,400 and 98,800 subscribers for broadband Internet and telephony services, respectively. However, the company lost 99,900 video customers.

Segment-wise Results

Total revenue at the European Operations division was $4,249.8 million, down 0.8% year over year. Within this segment, revenues from Western Europe were $3,983.6 million, up 0.6% year over year. Revenues from Central and Eastern Europe came in at $267.2 million, down 17.7% year over year. Loss at Central and other operation grossed $1.0 million compared with a loss of $1.2 million in the year-ago quarter. VTR Chile revenues totaled $220.8 million, down 9% year over year. Corporate and other revenues totaled $12.8 million, down 27.3% year over year.

Stocks to Consider

Liberty Global currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the same space include T-Mobile US, Inc. TMUS, Inteliquent, Inc. IQNT and Ruckus Wireless, Inc. RKUS. All these stocks hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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