Liberty Global Group's Q1 Operating Income Down 18%

(RTTNews) - Liberty Global plc (LBTYA, LBTYB, LBTYK, LILA, LILAK), announces financial and operating results for the first-quarter ended March 31, 2017 for the Liberty Global Group and the LiLAC Group.

Liberty Global Group's (Europe) Operating income was $431 million, representing a decrease of 18% from last year's $527 million. The decrease in operating income was primarily impacted by decreases in OCF, and depreciation and amortization.

Going forward, the company continues to anticipate approximately $1.5 billion of OCF for full-year 2017 and are preparing for the hard spin of LiLAC Group towards the end of the year.

CEO Mike Fries stated, "Our first quarter results in Europe showed an acceleration in volume growth, as the mix of market-leading broadband speeds, next-generation2 TV functionality and new build activity underpinned this performance. We added 244,000 RGUs during Q1, a 40% increase compared to the prior-year period, while successfully implementing price increases across several European markets. This improvement in subscriber additions was led by our operations in the U.K. and Germany, both of which contributed to our best first quarter video performance in the last ten years."

In LiLAC, Operating income was up 130% year-over-year to $138 million. Organic RGU additions were up 97% year-over-year totaling 42,000, driven by broadband. CWC contributed 10,000 RGU additions compared to a loss of 20,000 RGUs in the fourth-quarter 2016.