- Stable sales: 671.9 million euros
- EBITDA: 354.7 million euros, 52.8% of sales
- Investments of 259.4 million euros, or 39% of sales, to develop tomorrow's infrastructure
In 2018, the TDF Group is pursuing its strategy as a shared infrastructure operator, focused on organic growth, serving ultra-broadband, media and telecoms, mobile and fixed-line coverage.
Fiscal 2018 saw stable results for the TDF Group, with prospects for significant growth driven by a strategy of massive investment, particularly in 2018. Sales amounted to €671.9 million:
In the telecoms sector,
the combined effects of delays in implementing the historic "New Deal mobile" agreement between the French government and the four operators to improve mobile coverage, and the "ran sharing" agreement between Bouygues Telecom and SFR, temporarily weighed on growth in this business. On-site hosting (hosting operators on TDF Group sites) continues to grow: +3.7% for recurring sales (or +9.7% proforma for the attrition of points of presence linked to ran sharing). The number of points of presence grew by +6.4% (+8.8% proforma for ran sharing-related attrition). In 2018, the deployment of new towers was 2.6 times higher than the previous year, reaching a total of almost 400 towers built in three years.
In the audiovisual sector
revenues were stable and in line with expectations: 2018 was marked by the continued liberation of the 700 Mhz band, during which the Group once again demonstrated its technical know-how in carrying out delicate operations.
In the fiber
the TDF Group has confirmed its position as a legitimate and credible operator in this sector with two new successes with public-initiative networks (RIP) in Val de Loire and Maine-et-Loire. Deployment of the Group's fiber optic networks (Val d'Oise, Yvelines, Val de Loire and Anjou) has begun: as of December 31, 2018, 84,000 outlets had been built or were under construction. In Val d'Oise, marketing of the first outlets has also begun successfully: at the end of December 2018, more than 1,300 outlets had been marketed.
- In its three core businesses, the Group ended the year with an order backlog of 2,558 million euros, equivalent to 3.8 years of sales.
A massive pace of investment in 2018, accelerating in 2019.
The TDF Group is pursuing its strategy of massive investment to drive organic growth:
- 259.4 million euros were invested, representing 39% of sales (up 19.2% on 2017). Of these operating investments, nearly 200 million euros corresponded to growth investments in the Telecom and Fiber businesses.
- The Group continued to expand its site portfolio, which now comprises 18,200 marketable sites (up 30% on 2017).
- The tower construction program is accelerating thanks to end-to-end control of the industrial deployment process.
The TDF Group reports increased profitability and controlled costs:
- Adjusted EBITDA (excluding IFRS16) rose by +0.6% organically to €354.7 million, representing a margin rate of 52.8% of sales, compared with 52.4% in 2017.
The Group has increased its liquidity by more than 400 million euros, strengthened by the five-year renewal (with an option to extend for a further two years) of its 250 million euro revolving credit line at optimized terms.
In 2019, the TDF Group is taking action to reduce the digital divide.
As an infrastructure operator and digital planner, the Group is continuing to develop very high-speed mobile and fixed-line coverage, particularly in rural areas, in order to help reduce the digital divide:
- Contributing to the success of the Mobile New Deal
TDF is making the success of the New Deal its priority and is keen to support all stakeholders: mobile operators, the State, local authorities. 2019 will be a decisive year for building on the strong market momentum seen at the end of 2018, with 1,250 orders for towers to be built received in the fourth quarter as part of the Mobile New Deal. The aim is to accelerate growth in the number of towers built and the number of operators' points of presence on TDF sites.
- Optical fiber: priority to deployment
2019 will see the continued rollout and marketing of the Group's four fiber optic networks.
- Audiovisual: modernizing the DTT platform
Digital terrestrial television (DTT) is still the majority TV broadcasting mode in France (52%). Following its white paper published at the end of 2018 on the place of DTT in the French audiovisual landscape, TDF is continuing experimentation with a view to the transition to Ultra High Definition and new integrated services, defined by the CSA in its roadmap to 2024.
In two years, TDF has renewed 20% of its workforce (nearly 350 new recruits). The Group's human resources policy supports TDF's business plan, whose growth and workforce allocation are defined differently according to the Group's three main activities: audiovisual, telecoms and fiber. TDF pursues a recognized and modern social policy to build employee loyalty. In recent years, a number of structuring agreements have been signed by the trade unions and management: quality of life at work, forward-looking management of jobs and skills, and so on.
Olivier Huart, Chairman and CEO of the TDF Group, said:
"2018 proved to us that the role of infrastructure operators is key to fighting the digital divide. The TDF Group is an industrial player that is banking on a strategy of organic growth. To achieve this, we are implementing a massive investment program to enable us to increase our capacity to deploy tower and fiber infrastructure on behalf of our customers, while controlling our costs and resources."