Cellnex closes Q1 2023 with revenue of EUR 985 million, up 19%

Results January-March 2023

Growth of EBITDA (+15%) and recurring free cash flow (+12%) driven by organic growth (+6.8%) and consolidation of Cellnex’s geographic footprint

The Board has appointed Jonathan Amouyal, as a proprietary director, and María Teresa Ballester as an independent director of Cellnex

• The financial indicators[1] continue to reflect the effect of the geographic expansion and strength of the Group’s organic business:
  • Revenue[2] stood at EUR 985 million (vs 828 million Q1 2022); adjusted EBITDA EUR 730 million (vs 634 million Q1 2022); and leveraged recurring free cash flow EUR 336 million (vs 300 million Q1 2022).
  • Solid organic growth: +6.8% of points of presence (PoPs) in the group’s sites.
• Net financial debt[3] –as of March 2023– amounts to EUR 17 billion. 77% of the debt is at a fixed rate.
• As of March 2023, Cellnex has available liquidity (cash and undrawn debt) of approximately EUR 4.3 billion.
• For the second year in a row, the Company has been listed in the “Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index” for its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and recognised by CDP as a “Supplier Engagement Leader” for involving its suppliers in the fight against climate change and its efforts to measure and reduce environmental impact in the supply chain. Cellnex was also included, for the first time, in the S&P Global “2023 Sustainability Yearbook”.

Barcelona, 27 April 2023. Cellnex Telecom has presented its results for the first quarter of 2023. Revenue stood at EUR 985 million (+19%) –c.+15% vs. Q1 2022 excluding pass throughs–, and adjusted EBITDA grew to EUR 730 million (+15%) which together reflect both organic growth and the effect of the consolidation of asset acquisitions performed in 2022. Leveraged recurring free cash flow was EUR 336 million (+12%).

The net accounting result was negative at EUR -91 million (vs EUR -93 million in 2022), and continues to include the effect of amortisations (+13% vs. Q1 2022) and financial costs (+12% vs. Q1 2022) associated with the process of consolidation of the acquisitions and integrations in the Group and consequent expansion of its geographic footprint.

Cellnex CEO Tobias Martinez highlighted, “In the first quarter, we successfully met the group’s organic growth targets, which further reinforces the Company’s alignment with the new strategic direction we announced last November. The cornerstone of this strategy is to secure an investment grade-rating from Standard & Poor’s by no later than 2024, thereby bolstering our financial foundation for Cellnex’s sustained growth in years to come.”

Business lines. Main indicators for the period

• Infrastructure Services for mobile Telecommunications operators provided 91.3% of revenue, at EUR 899 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 20%.
• Broadcasting infrastructures activity contributed 5.8% of revenue, with EUR 57 million.
• The business focused on security and emergency service networks and solutions for smart urban infrastructure management (IoT and Smart cities) contributed 2.9% of revenue, totalling EUR 29 million.
• As of 31 March, Cellnex had a total of 111,931 operational sites (without taking into account the 18,936 sites planned to be rolled out by 2030): 4,546 in Austria, 1,576 in Denmark, 10,455 in Spain, 24,908 in France, 1,936 in Ireland, 21,576 in Italy, 4,079 in the Netherlands, 15,550 in Poland, 6,431 in Portugal, 12,543 in the United Kingdom, 2,906 in Sweden and 5,425 in Switzerland; along with 7,988 DAS nodes and Small Cells.
• Organic growth of the points of presence in the sites was 6.8% higher year on year, including the effect of the roll-out of new sites during the period. 

Financial structure

Cellnex has a debt structure marked by the flexibility provided by the various instruments used.

• Group net debt –as of March 2023, excluding lease liabilities– stood at EUR 17 billion. 77% of the debt is at a fixed rate.
• As of March 2023, Cellnex had access to immediate liquidity (cash and undrawn debt) to the tune of approximately EUR 4.3 billion.
• Cellnex issues maintain their “investment grade” rating from Fitch (BBB-) with a stable outlook, as confirmed in January. In turn, S&P maintains the BB+ rating with a positive outlook confirmed in April.
• Cellnex continues to weigh up the possibility of opening up the capital of certain Group subsidiaries to crystallise value and speed up the process to achieve S&P investment grade.

About Cellnex Telecom

The efficient deployment of next-generation connectivity is essential to drive technological innovation and accelerate inclusive economic growth. Cellnex is the independent wireless telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructures operator that enables operators to access Europe’s most extensive network of advanced telecommunications infrastructures on a shared-use basis, helping to reduce access barriers for new operators and to improve services in the most remote areas.

Cellnex manages a portfolio of around 135,000 sites –including forecast roll-outs up to 2030– in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Poland. Cellnex’s business is structured in four major areas: telecommunications infrastructure services; audiovisual broadcasting networks, security and emergency service networks and solutions for smart urban infrastructure and services management (Smart cities and the “Internet of Things” (IoT)).

The company is listed on the continuous market of the Spanish stock exchange and is part of the selective IBEX 35 and EuroStoxx 100 indices. It is also present in the main sustainability indexes, such as CDP, Sustainalytics, FTSE4Good and MSCI. Cellnex’s reference shareholders include TCI, Edizione, GIC, JP Morgan, CPP Investments, Blackrock, CK Hutchison, CriteriaCaixa and Norges Bank.