Altice International - comment

Clarity isn’t Altice’s forte and further muddying of the numbers in Altice International’s Q3 release.  Altice International have divested/moved the Geodesia business to another Altice entity, outside the structure of Altice International. Altice International have disclosed some profitability numbers for Geodesia but we will have to revisit previous conference calls and disclosures to rationalise the now negative EBITDA contribution in Q3 of Geodesia.  Proceeds weren’t disclosed - we weren’t able to ask a question to clarify if the proceeds are actually positive after the new Altice entity assumes actual and potential liabilities.  

Away from Geodesia, the focus of the call centred on the underperformance of the Altice Labs business, as understandably Altice SFR and Altice USA are purchasing fewer products.  The labs' segment revenue has fallen by 50% from €300m in FY23 to c. €200m in FY24, with EBITDA falling from €90m to €60m.  Excluding this drag, Altice Portugal appears to be performing well with further weakness in the Israeli and Dominican Republic segments. 

The company reiterated their leverage guidance, and will use the Teads proceeds for debt repayment.  They continue to highlight the potential for other asset sales, including networks and data centres in Portugal, but both details remain vague.