Liberty Global Reports Q4 Profit

ENGLEWOOD: Liberty Global recorded a fourth-quarter profit of $100 million, as compared with a year-ago loss of $752.6 million, on revenues that rose 19 percent to $3 billion.

For the full year, revenues were up by 6 percent to $11.1 billion, with a net loss of $412 million, down from the $789 million loss in the prior year. The company reported 932,000 in organic RGU additions, including 322,000 in the fourth quarter alone. It also noted gains in operating cash flow (OCF) and free cash flow (FCF). "2009 was a successful year for LGI with continued growth and consistent performance in the midst of difficult global economic conditions," said Mike Fries, the company’s president and CEO. "In terms of full-year guidance targets, we achieved rebased OCF growth of 7 percent and FCF growth of 47 percent, at the high end of our 5 percent to 7 percent guidance range for OCF growth and substantially above our 25 percent target for FCF growth. Our Q4 performance was highlighted by our strongest quarter for organic subscriber additions in two years and we are seeing that momentum continue in the first quarter of 2010.” 

Fries continued: “In Europe we delivered a 37 percent year-over-year improvement in Q4 organic subscriber additions, capitalizing on our new ‘Fiber Power’ broadband products and enhanced digital video offerings to drive increased customer penetration and lower video churn. Our Dutch business, the furthest along in our European ‘Fiber Power’ roll-out, tripled its quarterly broadband subscriber additions as compared to Q4 2008, and leveraged its simplified bundling offers and superior video products to post its strongest quarter for digital cable additions in three years. This encouraging performance has positive implications for our other European markets, as we are accelerating advanced digital video features and expanding next-generation broadband services across our footprint, with all of our European markets expected to have next-generation broadband widely available by year-end 2010."

He concluded:“We are optimistic about our growth prospects for 2010, particularly given the positive subscriber trends we are seeing with respect to next-generation broadband internet and digital video services. Together with our cash-rich balance sheet, the potential for accretive M&A activity, and our stock buyback capacity, we remain focused on driving increased value for our shareholders.” 

The company ended the year with 16.6 million global customers, accessing 27.1 million services (15.2 million video, 6.7 million broadband Internet and 5.2 million telephony.)