Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR / results for Q1 2024
+++ Group revenue and EBITDA slightly lower, increase in net income +++ Infrastructure: optical fibre expansion resolutely continuing +++ Business customers: growth in IT services +++ Fastweb increases revenue, EBITDA and customers +++ Financial outlook for 2024 unchanged +++
‘Customers are inspired by our products and services and are happy to recommend Swisscom to others. In the comparison tests conducted on our mobile network and our service, we were able to improve further on our already very high level. Business performance is satisfactory and in line with expectations,’ says CEO Christoph Aeschlimann, commenting on the first quarter of 2024. ‘We are focusing on quality and taking a more conservative approach than our competitors when it comes to promotions. We have also avoided passing on rising costs, such as the increase in VAT, to our customers. Our subsidiary Fastweb is growing continuously in Italy. The planned takeover of Vodafone Italia will strengthen Swisscom as a whole. Our focus in Switzerland remains unchanged. A top network and top service continue to be the priorities.’
Group revenue fell by 1.6% year-on-year to CHF 2,703 million, with a marginal decline of 0.5% at constant exchange rates. In the Swiss core business, revenue fell by CHF 52 million or 2.5% to CHF 1,993 million. Revenue from telecommunications services decreased by 2.2% to CHF 1,324 million. In contrast, revenue from IT services with business customers rose by 4.9% to CHF 297 million. The business in Italy continues to show positive development. The year-on-year revenue growth at Fastweb comes in at EUR 35 million (+5.6%).
Consolidated operating income before depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell slightly by 0.8% to CHF 1,155 million. Excluding non-recurring items and at constant exchange rates, this resulted in a decrease of 1.5%. The EBITDA margin increased from 42.4% to 42.7%. EBITDA in the Swiss core business fell by 2.0%, while in Fastweb it increased by 2.1% (in EUR).
Net income rose by 2.9% year-on-year to CHF 455 million.
Swisscom continuously invests in the quality, coverage and performance of its network infrastructure, consolidating its position at the cutting edge of technology. Group-wide investments rose by 9.0% year-on-year to CHF 594 million.
CHIP has rated the Swisscom mobile network as the best in Switzerland for the ninth consecutive time. Swisscom is rapidly expanding the 5G network in order to ensure high network quality and to continue to offer customers an excellent mobile network. At the end of March 2024, Swisscom provided more than 82% of the Swiss population with 5G+.
By the end of 2025, fibre-optic coverage is expected to increase from the current 47% to 57% and to 75–80% by the end of 2030. By then, the latest network technologies such as optical fibre and 5G mobile communications should be available in almost all municipalities. At the same time, Swisscom will gradually decommission the copper network, which is around 150 years old, wherever optical fibre is available in the coming years.
Swisscom intends to complete the optical fibre network in all municipalities after 2030. This will enable the complete decommissioning of the copper grid and related electricity savings on the order of the annual consumption of a city with around 20,000 inhabitants (100 GWh).
Swisscom will appeal against the decree published by the Competition Commission (COMCO) on 25 April. Swisscom does not consider the decision and reasoning by COMCO to be transparent in certain key points. Swisscom believes that it has behaved correctly in accordance with competition law. The appeal to this decree will not affect the further expansion of optical fibre access.
Swisscom stands for excellent customer service, with connect trade magazine awarding the hotline the best in the DACH region in March once again following tests in the shops and in the app. At the end of March 2024, 2.07 million customers in the residential customer segment were using blue subscriptions. In this segment, blue accounts for 50% of all mobile subscriptions and 81% of fixed-line broadband connections with the Swisscom brand. The number of fixed-line broadband connections fell by 1.3% year-on-year to 1.99 million connections, with the number of TV connections dropping by 2.1% to 1.53 million. In mobile telephony, the number of connections increased by 0.5% to 6.27 million, while the customer structure changed due to an increase in postpaid lines (+126,000) and a similarly strong decrease in prepaid connections (–92,000).
Revenue from telecommunications services in the residential customer segment fell by 1.8% year-on-year to CHF 946 million. Among other things, the decline was due to the increase in VAT not being passed on to customers.
The market for business customers remains dominated by price pressure and technological changes. Revenue from telecommunications services fell by 3.3% year-on-year to CHF 378 million, primarily due to price erosion. Swisscom has a strong position as a full-service provider and customer satisfaction is high. Demand for cloud, security, IoT and SAP solutions and business applications continued to grow. Revenue from IT services rose by 4.9% in the first quarter of 2024 to CHF 297 million.
Fastweb increased its revenue by 5.6% in local currency terms. In the mobile communications sector, the number of connections was up by 11.8% on the previous year to 3.61 million. The customer base in the fixed-network business (retail and wholesale) grew overall by 4.5% to 3.30 million. Although this fell by 3.0% to 2.58 million in the retail business as a result of the challenging market environment, the number of ultra-fast broadband connections that Fastweb provided to other operators rose to 720,000 (+45%). Bundled offerings continued to play an important role, with 43% of customers using a bundle of fixed network and mobile. Revenue from residential customers remained virtually stable at EUR 288 million (–0.3%). Revenue in the business customer segment grew by 8.8% to EUR 284 million. Wholesale also reporting higher revenue, with an increase of 17.8% to EUR 86 million.
Fastweb’s overall revenue rose year-on-year to EUR 658 million (+5.6%). Operating income before depreciation and amortisation (EBIDTA) rose by 2.1% to EUR 192 million. Fastweb also announced its entry into the electricity market at the beginning of April through the reselling of electricity tariffs.
In February 2024, Swisscom ordered over 1,200 electric vehicles. New vehicles will be delivered and combustion vehicles replaced on a continual basis. From 2025, this is expected to halve direct CO2 emissions from the entire vehicle fleet compared to 2020 values.
Swisscom expects net revenue of around CHF 11.0 billion, EBITDA of CHF 4.5–4.6 billion and capital expenditure of around CHF 2.3 billion for 2024. Subject to achieving its targets, Swisscom plans to propose payment of an unchanged attractive dividend of CHF 22 per share for the 2024 financial year at the 2025 Annual General Meeting.
On 15 March 2024, Swisscom announced its takeover of Vodafone Italia and the merger of this acquisition with Fastweb. The process of securing official approvals from the Italian competition authority and other bodies is under way. Subject to regulatory and other standard approvals, the transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025.
| Revenue (in CHF million) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 2,703 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 2,747 |
| Change (restated)* |
–1.6% (–0.5%) |
| Operating income before depreciation and amortisation, EBITDA (in CHF million) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 1,155 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 1,164 |
| Change (restated)* |
–0.8% (–1.5%) |
| Operating income EBIT (in CHF million) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 568 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 573 |
| Change (restated)* |
–0.9% |
| Net income (in CHF million) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 455 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 442 |
| Change (restated)* |
2.9% |
| Retail broadband access lines in Switzerland (as at 31.3 in thousands) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 1,991 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 2,017 |
| Change (restated)* |
–1.3% |
| blue TV connections in Switzerland (as at 31.3 in thousands) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 1,526 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 1,558 |
| Change (restated)* |
–2.1% |
| Mobile access lines in Switzerland (as at 31.3 in thousands) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 6,269 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 6,235 |
| Change (restated)* |
0.5% |
| Fastweb retail broadband access lines (as at 31.3 in thousands) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 2,582 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 2,662 |
| Change (restated)* |
–3.0% |
| Fastweb mobile access lines (as at 31.3 in thousands) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 3,611 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 3,231 |
| Change (restated)* |
11.8% |
| Capital expenditure (in CHF million) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 594 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 545 |
| Change (restated)* |
9.0% |
| Of which capital expenditure in Switzerland (in CHF million) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 444 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 392 |
| Change (restated)* |
13.3% |
| Group employees (FTEs as at 31.3) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 19,947 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 19,252 |
| Change (restated)* |
3.6% |
| Of which employees in Switzerland (FTEs as at 31.3) | |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2024 | 16,105 |
| 1.1. – 31.03.2023 | 15,755 |
| Change (restated)* |
2.2% |
Swisscom uses various alternative performance measures. The definition and reconciliation of values in accordance with IFRS are set out in the Interim Report as at 31 March 2024.
Swisscom AG
SCMN / Valor 874251 / ISIN CH0008742519
Group Media Relations
CH-3050 Bern
Phone +41 58 221 98 04
E-Mail media@swisscom.com
www.swisscom.ch
Disclaimer
This notification contains forward-looking statements. In this notification, such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements relating to our financial condition, results of operations and business and certain of our strategic plans and objectives.
Because these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual future results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors which are beyond Swisscom’s ability to control or estimate precisely, such as future market conditions, currency fluctuations, the behaviour of other market participants, the actions of governmental regulators and other risk factors detailed in Swisscom’s and Fastweb’s past and future filings and reports, including those filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and in past and future filings, press releases, reports and other information posted on Swisscom Group Companies’ websites.
Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only of the date of this communication.
Swisscom disclaims any intention or obligation to update and revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.