It is a small business, become large over time, who does not know the crisis. Iliad, the mother house and Free - bought last year at Telecom Italia - Alice, saw its profitability grow strongly in the first half, despite the ambient macroeconomic stagnation. With its two brands, the Internet access provider has registered a gross operating surplus of EUR 308 million over the first six months of the year, a net increase of 18 over the same period of last year.
This is of course Free performance, the inventor of the "triple play" to 29.99 euros per month, which explains this increase. But Alice is also for something. While the past year, the French branch of Telecom Italia lost 1 million euros every day, where, she exudes a gross operating surplus of EUR 5.5 million over six months. Analysts projected a breach of the standstill in the second half. "It is reassuring for the future of the group," concluded Maxime Lombardini, CEO of Iliad yesterday. "We have streamlined offers." Is there more that two, against 100 when we bought Alice. We have reduced spending and migrated information systems. "It remains to push Alice subscribers on the network of Free and extend rate unbundling", explained the leader yesterday.
The paradox is that this improvement on the front of the profitability while the Group has experienced a serious slump in the second quarter in terms of conquest of clients: Iliad has recruited new 34,000 subscribers, two times less than Orange and almost three times less than SFR. Bouygues Telecom has even exceeded Iliad between April and June.
Maxime Lombardini made amends. "The second quarter was within our expectations." We have seen a slight increase in churn in June. About 10,000 subscribers have left us for Bouygues Telecom. "But in July, things have returned in the order," he says.
Mobile and optical fiber
In any case, the risk-taking are the appointment. Single, Free has emerged a cash (after investment DSL) of EUR 178 million over the first six months of the year, is a doubling from 2008. This performance is particularly due to the fact that Free subscribers are more likely to be unbundled, which reduces the amounts that the access provider shall pay to France Telecom to use its network. With Alice - Burns still cash - and EUR 61 million invested in fiber optics, then the risk-taking reach still 109 million euros. Of course, "investments in fiber optics will be significantly higher in the second half", warned Thomas Reynaud, Chief Financial Officer.
Rest only in the short term, the debt down faster than expected. It was more "than" of 712 million euros late June, or 1.2 times the gross operating surplus. And the Group reiterated its goal to reach more than 1 billion euros of cash flow by end 2011. "This lends the projects in the mobile and optical fibre", two major sites of the group, responded an Exane BNP Paribas analyst.
Thomas Reynaud has even gone further: "The ADSL is released the margins of manoeuvre more important." "With the risk-taking of the ADSL, we will be able to self-finance investments in fiber optics 1 billion euros by end 2012, Editor's note and some of those in the mobile", promised the Chief Financial Officer.
4 fall with a market share of fallen to 77 million people The ten commandments by 1give a name abstract grammatical conceptsA strong vieillerie that takes in the bodySince midSeptember the stock markets mark wayHe suggests planing each device of 5 which would 3That was yesterday in the spring of 2008Since March crime figures are left on the riseWe confuse blithely price and image AwardIn the foreground Cordelia lying body presented face
