Lisbon, Aug. 29, 2024 (Lusa) - The chief financial officer (CFO) of the Altice group, Malo Corbin, on Thursday ruled out the sale of the owner of Meo for the time being but acknowledged that the group continues to analyse opportunities, namely the sale of some of Altice Portugal's assets.
Malo Corbin was speaking on an Altice International conference call with analysts about the results of the first half of the year.
The CFO said that ‘other options’ are being evaluated in relation to Altice Portugal, but gave no details, although he was open to the possibility of selling some assets separately.
The business in Portugal ‘is very rich in assets and infrastructure, we have monetised some in the past, but there are still many valuable assets,’ he continued, adding that he is looking at possibilities, but there is nothing concrete.
‘We believe it's the right strategy to monetise’, Altice Portugal said, adding that it will be shared if there is more information on the subject.
He also said that Altice Portugal remains the group's ‘main asset’ and that the owner of Meo is registering solid ‘organic growth’.
The Altice group didn't have much to say about the entry of competitor Digi into the Portuguese market.
‘We didn't see anything from any competitor or ourselves in terms of a change in behaviour before the launch of Digi,’ he said.
Altice Portugal's revenues fell by 0.6% in the first half of the year, year-on-year, to €1.409 billion, the owner of Meo announced today.
In the first half of the year, revenues stood at €1.409 billion, a reduction of 0.6%. At the same time, earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to €511 million, 2.3% more than a year earlier.
Overall investment (capex) totalled €195 million, a year-on-year decrease of 15.7%.
This reduction in investment is because Altice Portugal's fibre deployment is almost complete (6.4 million homes) and investments in the mobile network.
In the second quarter, Altice Portugal's revenues totalled €705 million, EBITDA reached €252 million, and the company invested €95 million.
ALU/ADB // ADB.
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