Numericable-SFR Posts Net Loss As Acquisition Costs Weigh

By Ruth Bender

PARIS--Numericable-SFR (NUM.FR) Thursday posted a net loss for 2014, as financing costs linked to the acquisition of SFR last year weighed on France's second-largest telecom group.

Cable operator Numericable at the end of November last year finalized its merger with the much larger mobile company SFR, which Numericable's parent company Altice SA (ATC.AE) bought from Vivendi SA (VIV.FR) in a $23 billion deal.

For the full year, which included barely a month as an integrated company, Numericable-SFR posted a net loss of 175 million euros ($194.9 million), finance chief Thierry Lemaitre said on a conference call; the company didn't publish a net profit figure in its press release.

Numericable-SFR said earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, fell 11% to EUR3.1 billion on a pro-forma basis. This figures excludes certain non-recurring charges such as acquisition and restructuring costs.

Sales fell 5% on a pro-forma basis to EUR11.44 billion, the group said.

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