Millicom: Growth Accelerated in Q2

LUXEMBOURG, July 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --  

Q2 2018 highlights (i)

• Latam service revenue growth accelerated to 5.5% from 3.9% in Q1
• Now expect growth near the top end of our full year 2018 outlook range of 2-4%
• Mobile recovery continues, with growth of 2.1%, up from 0.9% in Q1
• Home revenue growth accelerated to 12.6% from 7.6% in Q1
• Colombia revenue growth accelerated to 5.8% from 2.2% in Q1
• Record H1 HFC homes connected – raising full year 2018 guidance to 400k from 300k net additions
• Latam EBITDA growth of 4.4%, up from 1.4% in Q1
• Robust cash flow growth with equity free cash flow up 32.6% in Q2 and 15.7% in H1
• Preparing for an additional listing on a U.S. Stock Exchange next year

Notes: (1) Organic growth excludes impact from changes in FX rates, consolidation perimeter, and accounting (IFRS 15). See page 19 for full impact of IFRS 15 adoption on our Income Statement. (2) Excludes spectrum as well as finance lease capitalizations from tower sale-leaseback transactions.

Millicom Chief Executive Officer Mauricio Ramos commented:

"The investments we have been making are now delivering faster and more predictable organic revenue growth. In Latam, mobile revenue growth improved to more than 2%, with Bolivia leading the way with more than 6%. Home accelerated to nearly 13%, thanks to a big improvement in Colombia, where total homes connected passed an inflection point earlier this year and are now growing at an accelerating rate.

"Clearly, our strategy is working, and with growth back on track, we continue to sharpen our focus on costs, and operational efficiency improvements are driving cash flow growth in many areas. We still have work to do on this front, and we have already identified opportunities to further improve operating leverage."

Subsequent Events

On July 19th 2018, we announced that we exercised our option to redeem our SEK 2,000,000,000 Senior Unsecured Floating Rate Notes due 2019 at a price equal to 101.45% plus accrued and unpaid interest. The Redemption Date will be August 9th 2018, and the Record Date will be August 2nd 2018.

We are announcing today plans to register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and to list our common shares on a U.S. stock exchange, while also maintaining our current listing on Nasdaq Stockholm, where our shares currently trade in the form of Swedish Depository Receipts.

2018 Outlook

We are reiterating our 2018 outlook, and we now expect Latam service revenue growth near the top end of our full year 2018 outlook range of 2-4%. We also expect to add 400,000 HFC homes connected, up from 300,000 previously, including approximately 52,000 homes related to an acquisition.

*Includes approximately 52,000 homes added as a result of an acquisition in Guatemala.

IFRS 15

The implementation of IFRS 15 ("Contracts with customers") had a negligible impact on our Q2 2018 financials, similar to the effect in Q1 2018. As shown in the reconciliation table on page 19, implementation of the new standard increased total revenue by $2 million and EBITDA by $3 million, and it reduced service revenue by $19 million (-1.3%) as compared to what our results would have been if we had continued to follow the IAS 18 standard in use until year-end 2017. In order to aid comparisons with the prior year, the organic growth figures discussed throughout this report exclude the impact of this accounting change implemented as of January 1st, 2018.

Conference call details

A presentation and conference call to discuss these results will take place on July 20th, 2018 at 2:00 PM (Stockholm) / 1:00 PM (London) / 8:00 AM (New York). Please dial in 5-10 minutes before the scheduled start time to register your attendance. Dial-in numbers for the call are as follows:

The access code is: 1175831

A live audio stream, presentation slides, and replay information can be accessed at www.millicom.com.

 Financial calendar

(i) The financial information presented in this earnings release is based on Alternative Performance Measures determined by the way in which the Executive Management (Chief Operating Decision Maker) manage the performance and resource allocation of the Group. It includes Guatemala (55% owned) & Honduras (66.67% owned) as if fully consolidated. With the exception of balance sheet items, the comparative 2017 financial information in this earnings release has been adjusted for the classification of our operations in Senegal, Ghana and Rwanda as discontinued operations. Our operations in Ghana have been merged with Airtel on October 12th, 2017 and are accounted for as a joint venture since that date. Our operations in Rwanda and Senegal were disposed of on January 31st and April 27th, 2018, respectively. IFRS Revenue was $1,061 million in Q2 2018; see page 19 for reconciliation with IFRS numbers.

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For further information, please contact

Press:
Vivian Kobeh, Corporate Communications Director
+1 305 476 7352 / +1 305 302 2858
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Investors: 
Michel Morin, VP Investor Relations
+352 277 59094
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Mauricio Pinzon, Investor Relations Manager
Tel: +44 20 3249 2460
[email protected]

SOURCE Millicom International Cellular