2023-08-08 13:53:00
Difficulties continue to weigh on Altice France, which saw its turnover drop by 2.6% over one year in the second quarter, to 2.77 billion euros, the group’s leaders said on Tuesday.
Under pressure, Patrick Drahi explains the increasingly fragile future of Altice
It is, in particular, the receipts of the media branch of the group, which is no longer listed, (BFMTV, RMC…) which pull the results down with a drop of 5.3% to 89 million euros. euros, and those of its telecoms branch (SFR) fell by 2.5% to 2.68 billion euros, due to a drop in the number of customers.
In addition, operating profit (EBITDA) also fell by 5.7% in the second quarter, to 1.02 billion, especially in the media branch, against 1.08 billion euros a year earlier.
The ” only priority is to alleviate debt
Reacting to these results, Patrick Drahi, boss of the Altice group, announced on Tuesday that his “only priority” for its Altice France branch (SFR, BFMTV) was to reduce its debt. This rose to almost 24 billion euros at the end of June, against 23.6 billion at the end of March, which corresponds to a net debt ratio of 6.3 times the gross surplus of operating (Ebitda). The objective is therefore to reduce this ratio of debt to Ebitda to 4.5 in the medium term against 6.3 at the end of June, a rate considered very high by the markets.
In front of analysts, the businessman promised a significant reduction in the debt burden, in particular through the sale of non-strategic assets and a reduction in investments, while his telecoms and media empire is weakened by a scandal. corruption in Portugal.
After having long defended the quality of the management team of his French branch, one of the pillars of his group, the Franco-Israeli billionaire said he wanted to sell “certain non-essential assets”citing in particular “data centers”, in order to reduce the debt.
Corruption scandal
But their sale has been slowed by the Portugal affair, officials said on Tuesday. In mid-July, his right-hand man and co-founder of Altice, Armando Pereira, suspected of having enriched himself at the expense of the company, was arrested there. Speaking for the first time about the case, Patrick Drahi said on Monday that he felt “betrayed and deceived by a small group of individuals”.
“A few individuals, especially in the buying arm, carefully concealed their actions from me, their colleagues and the whole group”he said, judging that “these people have, if these allegations are true, taken advantage of their position at the expense of the group, and therefore at my personal expense as well”. A case that shakes the empire of the businessman, raising questions about his ability to repay his debts.
“We immediately suspended about fifteen people in Portugal, France and the United States”following an internal investigation, he announced, promising to do “full transparency” on this affair which splashes the whole of the group. “It is very unpleasant to see the word corruption next to the name of our group and most of the time, in the press, next to my name, but our group is a victim, not accused”nevertheless insisted the owner of this telecom empire, present in more than five countries.
(With AFP)
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