Virgin Media O2 publishes Q4 and full year results

2022 guidance achieved: Ended year at the high-end of our guidance of mid-single-digit Transaction Adjusted EBITDA with growth of 6.3 per cent(i) and improved revenue trends versus 2021. Opex and capex CTC of over £300 million; P&E additions of £2.1 billion; shareholder dividend of £1.6 billion

Commercial momentum: Customer growth in both Fixed and Mobile in 2022: 27,000 fixed net adds taking the base to 5.8 million and 142,000 Mobile contract net adds with the total Mobile base at 44.7 million

Expanding and upgrading our networks: UK’s largest gigabit network covering a total of 16.1 million premises; added 519,000 fixed premises(ii) in 2022 and our fibre upgrade activity is progressing well; 5G connectivity now available in over 1,600 towns and cities

Synergies milestone accomplished: Exceeded target of 30 per cent of annualised run-rate £540 million synergies and we are on track to achieve over 50 per cent by the end of 2023

Made continued progress against our ESG strategy, the Better Connections Plan: Became one of the first UK businesses to achieve the ‘Advancing’ level of the Carbon Trust’s Route to Net Zero Standard, while we continue to support our people, customers and communities through a rising cost-of-living

Full year 2023 guidance: Expect to deliver growth in Transaction Adjusted Revenue and midsingle-digit Transaction Adjusted EBITDA (before CTC) growth, with the first quarter impacted by phasing. Additionally, we predict opex and capex CTC of approximately £150 million and P&E additions of around £2.0 billion. The cash distribution to shareholders is anticipated to be £1.8 to £2.0 billion including cash from recapitalisations to maintain leverage at the upper-end of the 4-5x range

Lutz Schüler, CEO of Virgin Media O2, said:
“In our first full year as Virgin Media O2, we reinforced our position as the biggest challenger in the market. We delivered a strong performance against our guidance, took big steps forward in our integration plans, hit our synergy targets, and showed the commercial momentum of our merged business despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop.

“We invested £2.1 billion in 2022 to deliver even more for our customers while bringing gigabit speeds and 5G to new parts of the country, with plans to accelerate the rollout this year – providing more choice and enhancing competition like never before. This investment, combined with continued innovation and our unwavering customer-first approach, delivered an increase in our fixed and mobile contract bases, as well as driving convergence with 1.3 million people now taking one of our Volt bundles.

“We have firm foundations in place, a clear strategy and a team that’s focused on building long-term commercial momentum and I’m confident we’ll deliver our 2023 guidance.”

CT Bureau