Tele Columbus hit by higher than expected integration costs

Tele Columbus HQ

German cable operator Tele Columbus – now operating under the PŸUR brand, was hit by delayed synergies from its acquisition of Primacom and Pepcom and higher than expected integration costs last year, but nevertheless posted higher revenue and EBITDA for the full year.

Tele Columbus said it was unable to meet all its goals given the complexity of the integration process and that, in particular, the migration of customer data to an integrated platform had been more time-consuming and costly than originally envisaged.

Tele Columbus’s revenues grew 4.2% to €496.2 billion, while normalised EBITDA grew by 6.2% to €264.7 million. Fourth quarter revenues grew by 4.6% to €128.2 million while EBITDA was up 3.9% to €72.9 million.

Tele Columbus’s capital expenditure for the fourth quarter was €87.1 million, up from €67.9 million for the same period in 2016.

In the fourth quarter Tele Columbus grew its broadband base by 14,000, taking it to 578,000, and grew its phone base by 10,000 to 555,000. The company had 430,000 premium TV customers at the end of the year.

The number of upgraded homes in Tele Columbus’s footprint rew by two points to 2.327 million, out of 3.6 million connected households. ARPU grew by 7.7% year-on-year to €18.10.