(Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC on Monday said European tower infrastructure operator Vantage Towers GmbH has reported "strong" commercial momentum in the third quarter.
The Berkshire, England-based telecommunications company said Vantage Towers, which Vodafone is in the process of spinning out for a listing in Frankfurt, posted revenue of EUR723 million in the first nine months of the year to December 31 on a pro forma basis, in line with expectations. For comparison, it achieved EUR945 million during financial 2020 as a whole.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the nine-month period was EUR620 million, compared to EUR814 in all of financial 2020, due to momentum in its commercial operations and ground lease optimisation programme.
Vantage Towers said that, due to the encouraging results, it has reaffirmed its cash flow target of between EUR375 million and EUR385 million for financial 2021 and targeted revenue between EUR955 million and EUR970 million. It also has targeted adjusted Ebitda of between EUR520 and EUR530 million.
The operator increased its portfolio to around 82,000 macro sites and to a presence in 10 European markets, with "leading" positions in nine of them following its addition of a 50% stake in Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd in January. With its subsidiary Vodafone UK Ltd and Telefonica UK Ltd, Vodafone Group entered into eight-year master services agreements to commercialise Cornerstone, a joint venture that manages the two company's UK passive tower infrastructure established in 2012.
Vodafone UK said in January it planned to transfer its 50% holding in Cornerstone into European infrastructure business Vantage Towers, which would add EUR62 million to Vantage Towers' pro forma 2020 financial year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation after leases.
Vodafone said Vantage Towers, which it separated out in 2020, is "Europe's leading tower infrastructure platform", with more than 68,000 towers across nine markets. Back in July, it said it planned to list Vantage Towers in Frankfurt in 2021.
"Customers are appreciating the high quality of our grid and their response to our focused commercial approach is encouraging. This underscores our confidence in our tenancy targets. Adding Cornerstone, the UK's number one tower company, to our portfolio in early January was a significant step. Cornerstone is a great addition - it's a market leader, with broad and dense coverage, providing services to two market leaders who already have a network sharing agreement in place. In January, we also finalised the appointments for our supervisory board, securing members with deep towers, entrepreneurial and M&A experience, alongside world class governance and technical expertise," said Vivek Badrinath, Vantage Towers Chief Executive.
Shares in Vodafone were up 0.5% at 134.56 pence in London on Monday.
By Zoe Wickens; zoewickens@alliancenews.com
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