Dublin, Ireland 

Solid results in line with expectations

Eir today announced its results for the fourth quarter and full year 2022, which were in line with expectations. Full year revenue rose by €1m year on year, to €1.244 billion following a strong Q4 in which revenue rose by 5% and operating costs declined 6% over the same period in 2021.

Revenue increased by 5% in the fourth quarter, while adjusted EBITDA also increased 13% with continued streamlining of the cost base offset by additional costs as a result of the Q1-21 acquisition of Evros.

The total eir fibre broadband customer base increased by 2% year on year to 844,000, and the eir postpay mobile base increased by 10% to 982,000 customers. Multi-play bundling accounted for 45% of eir fixed households, up 5 percentage points year on year.

FY22 financial snapshot  ,3,4

►          Revenue €1.244 billion, up €1m

►          EBITDA €606 million, down €14m or 2%

►          Operating costs €388 million, increased by €7m or 2% 

►          Cash on balance sheet €507 million

Q4-22 financial snapshot 1, ,4

►          Revenue : €344 million, up 5% or €17m

►          EBITDA: €173 million, up 13% or €20m

►          Operating costs: €92 million, down 6% or €6m 2

Latest business updates 1

• Customer Care: ComReg complaints have decreased by 40% in the last 12 months and are currently the lowest on record since reporting began in 2015.
• 0 million premises passed by Ireland’s largest fibre network, or 89% of premises in Ireland. 987,000 premises passed with FTTH across Ireland as at 31 Dec-22, up 32% or 241,000.
• 844,000 fibre broadband connections, up 2% or 18,000; now totalling 89% of total broadband base. 45% of customers on triple or quad-play bundles, up 5pp.
• 5G network rollout continues to expand, with ultrafast data speeds in 530 towns and cities across Ireland.
•  

Q4-22 trading snapshot

Broadband

►          953,000 broadband customers, down 1% or 10,000 YoY driven by wholesale.

Mobile

►          1.316m total mobile customers, up 8% or 92,000.

►          982,000 postpay customers, up 10% or 91,000.

►          75% of the mobile base is on postpay, up 2pp.

eir TV

►          85,000 eir TV customers, up 3% or 3,000.

Household bundling:

►          87% of fixed consumer households are on bundles with two or more products, up 4pp.

Oliver Loomes, eir CEO, commented:

“I am pleased to have delivered substantial progress last year in our continuing strategy to provide Ireland with world-class future-proofed connectivity infrastructure. At year end, more than two million premises had been passed by Ireland’s largest fibre network and more than 987,000 had been passed by the rollout of eir’s Gigabit fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network. However, as of February 2023, premises passed by our Gigabit FTTH network had exceeded one million.

This Gigabit fibre broadband network now gives at least 2.3 million people access to secure, high-speed internet, fundamentally changing the way we work and live.

Through more than 50,000 kilometres of fibre, connecting over 800 villages, towns and cities across the island, this network continues to expand each day to bring high-speed internet to an ever-greater number of communities. When completed, it will reach 1.9 million homes and businesses, covering 84% of premises in Ireland.

The pace of our FTTH network roll-out has been truly extraordinary and we are now passing a record 250,000 premises a year with this revolutionary infrastructure. None of this would be possible without the tireless work of our fibre build team, working every day to connect for a better Ireland.

We are committed to continuing to invest in our people to ensure we have the best talent in place to continue building and maintaining Ireland’s largest fibre network into the future. As well as investment to support our technicians and field teams, eir has continued to invest heavily in our customer care throughout 2022 and I’m pleased to see ComReg’s most recent Consumer Line Statistics Report showing a substantial improvement in our customer service with consistent reductions in complaints. We will continue to build on this progress into 2023 with the aim of ensuring all eir customers enjoy a seamless customer care experience, where issues are resolved quickly and comprehensively.

We are very proud that eir is the leading telco investor in Ireland, investing €250 million every single year to ensure that Ireland has world leading connectivity infrastructure. We will continue to make significant investments in our infrastructure, to ensure we have world-class technologies and the highest-quality connectivity available to our customers. Enhanced technologies like eir’s 5G network is now available in 530 towns and cities across Ireland and the roll out of our 5G network will continue bringing ultrafast data speeds to even more homes and businesses.”

Stephen Tighe, eir CFO, commented:

“Our performance in the fourth quarter ending 31 December 2022, was in line with expectations. We saw growth across the eir fibre broadband base and in total mobile customers, including the eir postpay mobile base, with a further increase seen in the multi-play bundling of eir fixed households. 

“We have continued rolling out our fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and 5G technologies as part of our €1 billion capital investment programme. Both our fibre rollout and our 5G networks continue to expand and continue at pace, paving the way for future growth.

“With 1.9m premises expected to be passed with FTTH broadband by end of 2026, together with our rapid expansion in 5G network coverage, through this large-scale investment, we are well-positioned to expand our customer base through the offering of high quality, high value products over the coming years.”

Q4-22 trading performance

►          Revenue of €344m for the fourth quarter to 31 December 2022 increased by 5% or €17m year on year. Revenue growth in postpay, NBP access and bundling, as well as the addition of revenues from Evros was offset by a reduction in traditional access, content, and other mobile revenue.

►          EBITDA of €173m increased by 13% or €20m year on year.

►          Operating costs of €92m decreased by 6% or €6m year on year. Non-pay costs decreased by 4% or €2m, while pay costs decreased by 8% or €4m

►          The Group broadband base totalled 953,000 customers at quarter end, decreasing by 1% or 10,000 year on year driven by a decline in wholesale customers of 3% or 15,000.

►          Customers using fibre broadband services totalled 844,000 at quarter end, representing an increase of 2% or 18,000 customers year on year. 89% of the Group’s broadband base is now connected to eir’s fibre network, which represents a 42% penetration of total premises passed with eir fibre broadband.

►          The Group mobile base stood at 1.316m customers at quarter end, an increase of 8% or 92,000 year on year. The Group’s postpay base increased by 10% or 91,000 subscribers year on year. Postpay subscribers now represent 75% of the total mobile base, an increase of 2 points year on year.

In summary, the Group has delivered solid financial and operational results for the fourth quarter to 31 December 2022, in line with expectations.