Gaming Capital Group (registered as P4 company), to which UPC Polska belongs since spring 2022, in 2023, it generated a revenue increase of 9.6%. up to PLN 9.8 billion. While revenues from interconnection settlements decreased from PLN 1.05 billion to PLN 885.16 million, revenues from the retail segment increased from PLN 6.1 billion to PLN 6.98 billion.
Play gained more from subscribers and prepaid customers
Annual revenues from postpaid customers increased from PLN 4.91 to PLN 5.63 billion, and those from users of prepaid offers – from PLN 868.08 to PLN 935.42 million. In addition, revenues classified as other (mainly from virtual operators using Play group infrastructure) increased from PLN 322.67 million to PLN 422.06 million.
In turn, other operating income increased from PLN 835.49 million to PLN 1.27 billion, mainly due to the increase in the partnership’s revenues from the sale of passive infrastructure from PLN 700.27 to PLN 970.41 million. On the other hand, the partnership’s costs in this area increased from PLN 176.44 to PLN 319.25 million.
Play without marketing growth
Play Group’s operating costs increased much more than revenues in 2023 – by 17.2%. up to PLN 8.17 billion. Settlement costs for interconnection, roaming and other service costs increased from PLN 1.73 to PLN 2.2 billion, amortization costs – from PLN 1.46 to PLN 1.66 billion, and the value of goods sold (i.e. mainly devices purchased by customers) – from PLN 1.45 to PLN 1.56 billion.
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Cost dynamics have not improved marketing expenses, because they increased only slightly – from PLN 224.34 to PLN 224.57 million. However, expenses for maintenance of the telecommunications network, rental of lines and energy increased from PLN 655.11 to PLN 829.07 million, and for IT services – from PLN 129.3 to PLN 159.6 million.
Total expenditure on external services increased from PLN 1.27 to PLN 1.56 billion
Loans for the acquisition of UPC Polska
Play group’s profitability also weakened increase in financial expenses from PLN 966.31 million to PLN 1.26 billion. These are mainly debt service costs: the amount of interest paid increased from PLN 920.75 million to PLN 1.22 billion (of which those related to leasing: from PLN 221.08 to PLN 254.76 million).
Last year the operator’s gross debt decreased from PLN 11.35 to PLN 10.92 billion. The vast majority (PLN 10.06 billion) is due to be repaid in 2025 and beyond. PLN 7.58 billion are bank loans and PLN 1.25 billion are long-term bonds.
Play Group incurred significant debt mainly due to the acquisition of UPC Polska from Liberty Global, completed in spring 2022. It paid PLN 7.01 billion to the operator, of which around PLN 5.5 billion came from a loan obtained a few months earlier.
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On the other hand, at the end of last year the company had PLN 207.73 million in free cash, compared to PLN 625.62 million a year earlier.
At the operating level, the Play group’s profit decreased slightly – from PLN 2.45 to PLN 2.37 billion, while in net terms (the amount of income tax paid increased from PLN 348.53 to PLN 414.71 million), the decline was deeper – from PLN 1.16 billion to PLN 784.53 million.
Dividend much lower than Play
On an individual basis, P4, with an increase in revenues from PLN 7.45 to PLN 8.45 billion and operating costs from PLN 5.72 to PLN 6.88 billion, also recorded a decrease in net profit: from PLN 1.02 billion to PLN 906.4 million.
For almost four years, the Play operator was owned by the French group Iliad, which paid PLN 9.6 billion for it and delisted it from the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The company has recouped this investment in dividends over the past three years.
TRUE from last yearhe received only PLN 747 million of net profit (PLN 159.39 million went to the capital reserve for future dividends). For this Last year the dividend amounted to PLN 2.4 billion. It consisted of PLN 1.02 billion of separate profit from 2022 and PLN 1.51 billion of reserve capital.
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While for 2021, the Play operator paid even more to its owner – PLN 7.09 billion, of which PLN 5.18 billion as an advance at the end of December 2021 and PLN 1.9 billion in May 2022. In 2021, the company’s unitary net profit reached PLN 5.83 billion, mainly due to the sale of passive infrastructure for PLN 6.7 billion to On Tower Poland, in which Cellnex Telecom holds 60 percent shares and Iliad Group 40 percent. In turn, a year earlier, the telecom did not pay any dividends to its owner. The entire separate net profit of 2020, amounting to PLN 887.9 million, was transferred to its reserve capital.
Last year’s dividend significantly reduced the Play operator’s equity: it decreased from PLN 2.59 billion to PLN 813.07 million.
Play Group has already announced its most important business results for the first quarter of 2024. With revenue growth of 5.2% to PLN 2.5 billion, it recorded a decrease in EBITDAaL profit from PLN 1.04 to PLN 1.01 billion, among others. as a result of increased investments. The operator gained subscribers to mobile and fixed services, but the number of users of prepaid offers decreased.
