Freenet : shows strong and profitable growth in the third quarter

freenet AG has published today its interim report per September 30, 2016 and confirms the outlook for 2016 financial year.

In the third quarter, the company was able to realize a significant increase in group revenue (+9.8 per cent) of 867.2 million euros over the previous year (790.1 million euros). The increase is essentially the result of the inclusion of the sales contribution of the MEDIA BROADCAST Group in the amount of 70.1 million euros in the segment 'TV and Media'. In addition, the rising solid revenue in the Digital Lifestyle Division and the Mobile Communications core business also contributed to group revenues. The group revenue for the first nine months of the current financial year thus adds up to 2,424.1 million euros, equal to an increase of 5.8 per cent over the previous year (2,291.1 million euros).

The company was able to increase group EBITDA significantly by 20.8 million euros or 21.4 per cent to 118.2 million euros (previous year: 97.3 million euros). The group EBITDA achieved in the first nine months of 2016 amounted to 311.7 million euros (previous year: 272.4 million euros).

With a strong growth in customer ownership, which includes the strategically important customer groups Postpaid and No-frills, from 263 thousend or 2.9 per cent to 9.47 million per September 30, 2016 (previous year: 9.21 million), freenet AG pursues its strategy with focus on substantial customer relationships.

In the first nine months of the 2016 financial year, the company obtained a free cash flow that was 20.8 per cent higher than the previous year (262.7 million euros versus 217.4 million euros).

The complete interim report as of September 30, 2016 is available for downloading from www.freenet-group.de/investor.

* Group result before interest, taxes on income, depreciation and impairment write-downs, including shares of associates accounted for using the equity method, excluding depreciation and deferred taxes from the subsequent accounting regarding shadow purchase price allocation (element of the result of associates accounted for using the equity method).

** Free cash flow (FCF) is defined as cash flow from operating activities minus investments in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, plus proceeds from the disposal of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets.