Tele Columbus looks to better tomorrow after tough quarter

Tele Columbus HQ

German cable operator Tele Columbus has put a brave face on a first quarter that saw both revenue and profit decline, pointing to reduced churn and subscriber growth and confirming financial guidance for the remainder of the year.

The operator posted revenues of €120 million, down 2.7%, and normalised EBITDA of €56.8 million, down 13.1%, and down 16% on a like-for-like basis.

The operator reported capital expenditure of €41.8 million for the quarter, up 32.7% year-on-year.

Tele Columbus management said that EBITDA group would accelerate in the second half based on an improved operational performance. The company said the quarter had seen the lowest level of churn since it began integrating acquisitions Primacom and Pepcom.

Tele Columbus grew its connected homes base by 48,000 to 3.4 million in the three months to March. The company had 2.3 million subscribers, up 17,000 on the previous quarter.

Cable TV custoemrs were up 7,000 quarter-on-quarter to 2.269 million, although premium TV customers were down 7,000 to 551,000. Tele Columbus added 1,000 broadband custoemrs to take its total to 575,000, but lost 4,000 telephone customers to take that total to 435,000.

“I am very happy to see the Company’s major progress across all areas. In particular, I am convinced that improving customer satisfaction will translate into financial performance in the future,” said CEO Timm Degenhardt.