EANS-Adhoc: freenet AG freenet AG increases guidance for the financial year
2011 based on Q3 performance
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ad-hoc disclosure pursuant to section 15 of the WpHG transmitted by euro
adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide distribution. The issuer is solely
responsible for the content of this announcement.
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9-month report
09.11.2011
Büdelsdorf, 9 November 2011 - The Executive Board of freenet AG has again
increased its full-year forecast for 2011 based on the results of the third
quarter of 2011, and is now expecting recurring Group EBITDA (earnings before
interest, taxes and depreciation/amortisation) - adjusted for one-off items - to
reach 355 million euros (previously: 350 million euros) and free cash flow* to
exceed 230 million euros (previously: over 220 million euros) for the full year
2011.
In the first nine months of 2011 freenet AG generated recurring Group EBITDA of
263.9 million euros and free cash flow of 184.3 million euros.
Group revenue for the first nine months of 2011 came to 2,375.3 million euros
(-4.3 percent year-on-year) and the Group result increased by 4.8 million euros
or 6.6 percent to 77.8 million euros (Q1-Q3/2010: 73.0 million euros).
The number of mobile communications customers stood at 15.16 million at the end
of the third quarter of 2011. As a result of the continued qualitative
alignment, the number of postpaid customers decreased by 45,000 in the third
quarter of 2011, thus declining at a markedly slower pace than was the case in
previous quarters (decline in Q1/2011: 174,000 and in Q2/2011: 97,000). freenet
AG expects to lose less than 420,000 postpaid customers for the full year 2011
(previously: less than 450,000).
Compared with the previous quarter, the monthly average revenue per user (ARPU)
in the third quarter of 2011 increased across all business segments. Cumulative
postpaid ARPU for the first nine months stabilised at 23.9 euros, on par with
the previous year´s level of 23.8 euros.
freenet AG´s complete interim report on the third quarter of 2011 will be
available for download at www.freenet-group.de/investor soon.
* Free cash flow is defined as cash flow from operating activities, minus
investments in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, plus
proceeds from the disposal of property, plant and equipment and intangible
assets.
Further inquiry note:
freenet AG
Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 (0)40 51306-778
E-Mail: ir@freenet.ag
end of announcement euro adhoc
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issuer: freenet AG
Hollerstraße 126
D-24782 Büdelsdorf
phone: +49 (0)4331 691000
mail: ir@freenet.ag
WWW: http://www.freenet-group.de
sector: Telecommunications
ISIN: DE000A0Z2ZZ5
indexes: Midcap Market Index, TecDAX, CDAX, HDAX, Prime All Share,
Technology All Share
stockmarkets: regulated dealing/prime standard: Frankfurt, free trade: Berlin,
Hamburg, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Hannover, München
language: English