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“Ice has continued its growth journey in 2021 and it is rewarding to experience
that our key operational parameters are strengthened throughout the year.
Revenues and EBITDA results developed positively throughout the year, the
network continued to grow, and we delivered several new products to our
customers during the year,” says Eivind Helgaker, CEO of Ice Group ASA.
For mobile phone customers, Ice continues to grow the subscriber base and gained
market share every single quarter and reached 12% by the end of 2021. Ice
continues to see positive results from its customer centric approach, with
improved NPS score and reduced churn.
On 15 November 2021 “NiceMobil” was launched. This is to the company’s knowledge
the first fully digital only mobile concept in the market. The fully digital
concept of NiceMobil allows for very competitive price points as all customer
interactions are digital and the concept is app based with eSIM only and credit
card payment to make user experience easier for the customers. The initial
response from the market is very positive and the Nice concept is expected to
allow the company to boost the subscriber growth rate and optimize value
creation going forward.
In the fourth quarter Ice delivered all-time high smartphone revenues of NOK 466
million and all-time high adjusted EBITDA of NOK 108 million. Total operating
revenues for the year 2021 was NOK 2,319 million, and adjusted EBITDA for the
year was NOK 380 million (16% margin, in line with guidance). This clearly
proves the company’s ability to benefit from the underlying operational leverage
in telecom.
In Q4 Ice added 72 new smartphone base stations on air, delivering on its
mission of building the third mobile network in Norway. In 2021 Ice invested NOK
505 million and added in total 318 new base stations, in line with guidance. The
modern Ice network has been rated as one of the top networks globally when it
comes to network quality.
The increased coverage of the network is improving the on-net share to new
records as planned. The average data on-net share for Q4 was 91%, while the
average voice on-net share was 74%. This development strengthens quality for the
customers further and reduced NRA costs for the company.
In November Ice successfully switched on its commercial 5G offering in Oslo, and
in the short term the Company plans to have 5G in the 4-5 largest cities in
Norway. Longer term the plan is to reach 75% population coverage on 5G.
“We continue to grow market share in the Norwegian market and added 17,000 new
subscribers in Q4. Our digital sales channels are delivering strong results, and
in Q4 we also saw record-low churn with only 20% average annualized churn for
the quarter. We are also pleased to see that we continue to see a positive
development in sales per customer, with an underlying positive growth in
smartphone ARPU to 233 NOK in Q4,” says Helgaker.
In parallel with building its position in the Norwegian telecom market, the
company continues its refinancing process as announced on 16 December 2021. The
refinancing process has been challenging due to the complex capital structure.
The board and management of Ice have received and evaluated offers and proposals
on several different transaction structures from different investor groups. Such
transaction may include an equity raise element and/or conversion of debt or a
business transaction. The goal has been to maximize all stakeholder value in
this process. The company is confident in reaching a solution where creditor
values are kept, but believes the offers received indicate that there is risk to
the share price of the company. The timing, structure and size of any financing
or capital transaction are not clear, and no agreement has been entered into.
Due to the company’s short-term liquidity needs, the company believes it needs
to enter into definitive agreements within a short time and will come back to
the market with an update on the outcome of the process. This process is not
impacting the operations of the business or its relationship with customers or
suppliers.
“With an ongoing pandemic and the announcement of a financial restructuring
process, the organization is faced with more challenges than just developing our
business and winning new customers. I would like to give credit to each and
everyone for making very important contributions during a demanding year. Ice
has now delivered 27 consecutive quarters of smartphone subscription growth and
I remain confident that we will continue to win market share and improve margins
strongly going forward,” says Eivind Helgaker.
A live presentation of the results will be held today at 08:00 (CET). CEO Eivind
Helgaker and CFO Ola Beinnes Fosse will present. Investors, analysts, lenders
and media are invited to follow the webcast on
https://channel.royalcast.com/hegnarmedia/#!/hegnarmedia/20220215_3
A recording of the presentation will be available on our web site shortly after
the live webcast has ended.
DISCLOSURE REGULATION
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section
5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
CONTACTS
- Espen Risholm, Head of investor relations, +47 924 80 248, ir@icegroup.com
- Reynir Johannesson, Communication director, +47 940 94 900,
reynir.johannesson@ice.no
ATTACHMENTS
Download announcement as PDF.pdf -
https://kommunikasjon.ntb.no/ir-files/17847219/1195/1591/Download%20announcement
%20as%20PDF.pdf
Interim Report 2021 Q4.pdf -
https://kommunikasjon.ntb.no/ir-files/17847219/1195/1576/Interim%20Report%202021
%20Q4.pdf
Presentation Q4 2021.pdf -
https://kommunikasjon.ntb.no/ir-files/17847219/1195/1590/Presentation%20Q4%20202
1.pdf
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