Cellnex closes first nine months with over 45% growth in revenue

Cellnex Telecom has presented its results for the first nine months of 2022. Revenue amounted to €2.572 billion (+46%) and adjusted EBITDA grew to €1.937 billion (+45%) reflecting, together with organic growth, the effect of consolidating the assets the Group acquired in 2021. Free and recurring leveraged cash flow was €967 million (+46%).

The net accounting result was negative at -€255 million, reflecting higher amortisations (up 52% on 9M 2021) and financial costs (up 28% on 9M 2021) associated with the consolidation of the Group’s acquisitions and integrations, and the consequent expansion of its geographic footprint.

Tobias Martinez, CEO of Cellnex, said “We had a strong third quarter driven by organic growth. Thanks to our track record of successfully integrating acquisitions over the months and years, we continue to deliver double-digit increases in revenue, EBITDA and recurring cashflow. This gives us confidence in our targets for the year. Let me underline as well that while keeping our 2025 guidance, we are reinforcing our focus on our balance sheet, and as an expression of this we are committed to securing Investment Grade status (BBB- rating) from S&P. ”

“In the medium term,” adds the Cellnex CEO, “we see further momentum coming from our plans to build more than 21,000 new sites by 2030 for our existing customers, as well as significant potential in key growth areas. We expect sustained demand in Fibre-to-the-Tower, DAS, transport connectivity projects, edge data centres, as well as RAN sharing projects as highlighted by our agreement with Polkomtel in Poland.”

Lines of business. Key indicators for the period

• Infrastructure services for mobile telecommunications operators contributed 5% of revenue (€2.328 billion), up 53% on 2021.
• The broadcasting infrastructure business contributed 5% of revenue (€167 million).
• The business focused on security and emergency networks and solutions for smart management of urban infrastructures (IoT and Smart Cities), contributed 3% of revenue (€77 million).
• As at 30 September, Cellnex had a total of 104,808 operational sites (not including the 21,000 sites planned for roll-out up to 2030 and operations pending completion): 4,516 in Austria, 1,502 in Denmark, 10,420 in Spain, 24,015 in France, 1,890 in Ireland, 20,921 in
• Italy, 4,075 in the Netherlands, 15,199 in Poland, 6,086 in Portugal, 7,996 in the United Kingdom, 2,791 in Sweden and 5,397 in
• Switzerland; In addition, there are 6,969 DAS nodes and Small Cells.
• Organic growth in points of presence at the sites was up 7% on the same period in 2021, including the effect of the roll-out of new sites during the period.

Financial structure

• Cellnex has a debt structure that is flexible, owing to the use of various instruments.
• The Group’s net debt – following the closing of the deal with CK Hutchison in the UK – is €17.1 billion. 77% of the debt is referenced to a fixed rate.
• After Hutchison’s deal in the UK, Cellnex has access to immediate liquidity (cash and undrawn debt) of approximately €4.3 billion.
• Cellnex Telecom issues maintain Fitch’s investment-grade rating (BBB-) with a stable outlook, confirmed in January. Meanwhile, S&P confirmed its BB+ rating with a stable outlook in March.

CT Bureau