Virgin Media Reports Preliminary Q4/Fiscal 2015 Results

16th February 2016

Delivered 6% Rebased Segment OCF Growth in 2015, with 7% in Q4

New Build on Track; Added Over 250,000 Lightning Premises in 2015



Virgin Media Inc. ("Virgin Media") is the leading cable operator in the U.K. and Ireland, delivering market leading ultrafast broadband, video and fixed-line telephony services to 5.6 million cable customers and mobile services to 3.0 million mobile subscribers.

Operating and financial highlights:

  • U.K. performance in 2015 drove Virgin Media additions of 77,000 customers and 202,500 RGUs
    • Delivered record customer growth of 99,000 in 2015 and 55,000 in Q4 in the U.K.
    • Strong U.K. performance assisted by Project Lightning investment
      • 158,000 U.K. internet additions during 2015; (69,000 in Q4, highest since Q1 2010)
      • Record U.K. fixed-line telephone additions of 94,000 in 2015 (56,000 in Q4)
    • Customer churn improved year-over-year from 14.9% to 14.3% in Q4, with the U.K. customer churn improving from 14.6% to 14.1%
    • Added 159,000 post-paid mobile subscribers in 2015 (48,000 in Q4)
  • Pace of Project Lightning build accelerating with over 40% of 2015 new premises delivered in Q4

    • Overall ARPU and penetration in-line with plan but ahead in infill and new development areas
    • Expect to expand our U.K. footprint by over 500,000 premises in 2016
  • Speed leadership supporting RGU growth and our recently implemented price rises

    • Offering consumers ~3x faster broadband speeds than our competitors' national services
      • Our average customer connects 5 devices and downloads >110 GB of data per month
    • Launched 300 Mbps for small businesses in the U.K., 4x faster than our competitors' speeds
  • Acquired Irish commercial broadcaster, TV3; appointed new managing director
  • In January 2016, initiated a reorganisation in the U.K. that could result in around 900 redundancies; this will drive efficiency and enable us to reinvest in growth initiatives
  • Rebased revenue growth of 5% for Q4 (£1,190 million) and 4% in 2015 (£4,618 million)
  • Includes a third consecutive quarter of improved rebased revenue growth in the U.K. of 6% for Q4 and 4% in 2015

  • Rebased Segment OCF growth of 7% in Q4 (£538 million) and 6% in 2015 (£2,069 million)

    • Includes rebased Segment OCF growth of 8% in Q4 and 7% in 2015 in the U.K.
    • Segment OCF margin improved 110 basis points to 44.8% in 2015, reaching 45.3% in Q4
  • Operating income of £111 million in Q4 and £378 million for 2015

  • Property and equipment additions as a percentage of revenue increased by 120 basis points to 22% in 2015 due to higher levels of new build, in line with our guidance



Full Liberty Global results can be found here: https://bit.ly/LGQ415

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