Sunrise aims to grow again in 2023 after losing momentum
Published: Friday, Feb 16th 2024, 10:50
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Sunrise kept sales stable last year, but earned less operationally. Sales remained unchanged at CHF 3.035 billion (-0.2 percent).
While mobile telephony and business with corporate customers increased, the company suffered declines in the fixed network. The segment-adjusted operating profit before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by 2.0% to CHF 1.031 billion, as Switzerland's second-largest telecoms provider announced on Friday.
The price increase at the beginning of July slowed the Group down in the summer quarter. This led to a loss of customers, particularly in the Internet and TV business.
Turnaround to more growth achieved
However, the turnaround towards more growth has now been achieved, said Group CEO André Krause in an interview with the news agency AWP. In the final quarter, the broadband customer base remained stable despite delayed activations.
Sales rose by 2.5% in the last three months of the year, while the segment-adjusted operating profit EBITDA even increased by 5.6%. The summer price increase had a positive effect in all segments at the end of the year. Sunrise also saw growth in private customer mobile subscriptions and in the corporate customer business. The Group also sold more cell phones and landline devices.
"We were able to close 2023 with a strong fourth quarter," explained the Sunrise CEO. The growth in cell phone subscriptions and corporate customers as well as the improved trend in broadband customers had had an impact. The secondary brands, in particular Yallo, made a strong contribution to growth in 2023, it said.
Sunrise was also disciplined in terms of costs and increased efficiency. Towards the end of the year, the company, which belongs to the American telecoms group Liberty Global, announced a reduction of around 200 jobs. This means that almost 7 percent of the workforce will be cut.
More mobile subscription customers gained
The final spurt helped to limit erosion. Sunrise gained 132,000 net mobile subscription customers over the entire 2023 financial year. By contrast, the fixed network lost 3,000 broadband customers, while TV lost 16,800 net customers.
Numerous new contracts were concluded or extended with corporate clients, it said. These include, for example, the energy supplier BKW, the ground handling company Swissport and the airline Swiss.
The day before, Sunrise had announced the contract to network the Migros sites with fiber optic lines, beating Swisscom to the punch. This is the largest corporate customer contract in the history of the telecommunications company. Krause did not want to provide any information on the volume of the multi-year contract with the retail giant: "We have agreed not to disclose this information with Migros."
Sunrise expects a slightly higher result for the current year: With largely stable sales, stable to low growth in segment-adjusted EBITDA is expected, Sunrise continued.
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