Altice’s shares slide as management change fails to boost confidence

Altice’s shares have continued to fall precipitously following the management changes implemented by the company’s founder Patrick Drahi last week.

The cable and telecom group’s Amsterdam-quoted shares tumbled by a further 13.17% yesterday, meaning that its stock had fallen by about 40% since the publication of disappointing Q3 results on November 2. Altice’s shares have fallen by over 60% from their high in June, with analysts from Morgan Stanley giving a downbeat assessment of its prospects. The company’s stock regained some ground this morning before falling back.

Drahi is today speaking at Morgan Stanley’s annual conference in Barcelona, where he is likely to try to convince investors that his strategy for the group makes sense. Yesterday, he spoke to the company’s employees in an attempt to bolster morale and assuage concerns.

Altice carries debt to the tune of €50 billion, which has spooked investors in the face of disappointing financials, with the performance of French unit SFR a particular source of concern.

Earlier this week rival French service provider Orange’s CEO Stéphane Richard weighed in, commenting in the French media that he had doubts about Altice’s business model. In addition to concerns raised by the frequent management changes at SFR, Richard said he had doubts about SFR’s simultaneous investments in rolling out fibre and building an expensive premium content offering.