Zegona Communications Share Discussion Threads

[mach100] 25/11/2020 12:53

Ahead of projections it seems. Quite Innovative leadership which I applaud.


Spanish regional cable operator Euskaltel Group’s recently launched Virgin telco brand, which it uses to market services in Spain outside its home turf of the Basque Country, Asturias and Galicia, has now signed up over 58,000 customers after six months of operation.


Euskaltel CEO José Miguel García unveiling the Virgin telco brand earlier this year

The total subscriber base includes 43,000 fixed and 15,000 mobile customers, with the fixed base running well ahead of the 35,000 target the company set for the end of this year when it launched.

The higher fixed take-up reflects the fact that the telco now covers close to 21.5 million homes, ahead of the 18 million envisaged in the original business plan. The homes passed include 3.2 million in Madrid and one million in Malaga, Seville and Alicante.

Zegona Communications, Euskaltel’s largest shareholder, which has been instrumental in setting its current strategy and characterised the latest numbers as “a huge success”, said that 72% of municipalities with over 50,000 inhabitants now had contracts with Virgin telco.

Euskaltel last week launched a new package, Netflix Fan, that includes access to Netflix and 10GB that the customer can use on any of his or her mobile lines.

Broadband customers will be able to access the range of entertainment content offered by Netflix from any device and location, alongside 10GB of data to be used on any of the customer’s Euskaltel mobile lines or by buying a new data SIM card.

José Miguel García, head of Virgin telco and CEO of the Euskaltel Group said: “In six months, we’ve seen how this project has grown extraordinarily and I am sure that as a result of the huge effort made by the entire team and the company’s unbeatable philosophy, Virgin telco has a very bright future in the Spanish telecommunications industry, which, as I always say, is one of the most developed in the world. This is just the beginning and we will continue striving to offer customers services that meet their needs in a transparent, straightforward and flexible way. Customers will continue to be at the heart of our business strategy. 2021 will be an extremely exciting year, full of new developments”.

Koldo Unanue, chief marketing officer for Virgin telco, said: “Virgin telco can lay claim to having understood the needs of current customers and has been the first and only telecommunications company to launch onto the domestic market at the height of the global pandemic. Although this might have seemed risky, the company continuously shows that it can go all the way and that its 100% customer-centred philosophy works. “

[energeticbacker] 09/10/2020 10:13

Investor's Champion comments: Zegona looks a cheap, dividend yielding play on the improving performance and growth of a Spanish telecommunications group.

A bonkers valuation!

[mach100] 01/10/2020 21:48

hxxps://telecoms.com/506656/consolidation-is-on-the-agenda-again-in-spain/

Competition is fierce in Spain, less than half a decade after Telia sold out, and we’re talking about the M&A merry-go-round once again.

Regional operator Euskaltel’s name keeps cropping up as a potential new fourth player. The telco – a fixed and TV player, and MVNO, whose roots are in Northern Spain – earlier this year announced plans to extend its presence nationwide under the Virgin brand. The operator said its aim is to reach the 85% of the Spanish market that it does not yet cover as part of a business plan for the next five years. The firm has declared itself the market’s fifth player, much like Masmovil tagged itself as Spain’s fourth national operator a few short years ago, and said it will operate as a value brand with competitive pricing.

Having seen the way Masmovil took the market by storm, you can forgive Spain’s existing national players for being spooked, Masmovil included.

While there is little of any substance in the reports emerging from the Spanish market at present, we find ourselves in a very familiar situation – history repeating itself, you could say – and talk of further consolidation seems like much more than just idle speculation.

[cerrito] 05/9/2020 22:24

I was interested to see that on Friday Canaccord reiterated their buy recommendation at a target price of 160p which to me is rather optimistic.
I decided to sell the small amount I had left. I see that the NAV on Thursday was £1.23 so the discount has narrowed. Also, I do not have the bandwidth to follow the ins and outs of the Spanish telecoms markets or indeed what could be a driver in the share price the propensity of the local banks who are shareholders to cash out.
For my sins, I retain an involvement through my MVI holding and no doubt I will be back.
The interims did remind me of the big management expenses.

[dekle] 21/8/2020 07:10

Why 3 corporate brokers?

[cerrito] 25/7/2020 19:03

I see the EUS price was up a bit to close at E8.06 yesterday Friday and of course we have the strong Euro as well.

[mach100] 24/7/2020 10:52

Superb performance by Euskatel in Q2 with a lot of favourable metrics. Net debt reduced by 25.8m since Mar 20 and is now 4.07 x EBITDA. 27.7million Euros FCF in the quarter with cash flow over 50m in a quarter for the first time. All helping to offset Virgin Telco launch costs in he quarter. Looks good to me as a solid growing company with good revenue visibility and a strong management team that is delivering. EXCELENTE!

[mach100] 20/7/2020 22:47

Ask goes to 119p again. A fund purchase undeclared as of yet behind the rise?

[mach100] 09/7/2020 20:09

Euskatel has refinanced 215m Euros of corporate debt into a bullet loan due in December 2023. Things are falling nicely into place for its current expansion.

[oapknob1] 28/6/2020 23:01

RNS 26th JunePosition of previous notification 5.2291% voting rightsResulting situation on the date on which threshold was crossed or reached 10.1564% voting rights

[cerrito] 28/6/2020 16:41

As per Zegona AR, on May 13th 2020 Canaccord had 9.7%
When I saw the increase in the share price I thought it must reflect an increase in the EUS share price but that finished the week stable at E7.91.
Interesting that a couple of days ago FT had a long interview with CEO of Telefonica discussing consolidation of European telco industry.

[oapknob1] 26/6/2020 23:00

CANACCORD GENUITY GROUP INC doubled their holding ?

[dekle] 24/6/2020 11:02

I wonder if there are some institutions lined up to sell their holdings. Marwyn have been buying back their shares and that's lifted the price.

[oapknob1] 24/6/2020 08:24

Share by back announced.

[cerrito] 18/6/2020 23:18

I note the useful increase in the Zeg price over the last week or so. I see that EUS has also firmed and while down a bit today still ended up at E7.9
I see that an offer reported on June 1 for masmovil- the fourth largest Telco in Spain and hence I guess bigger than EUS- at a premium of 20% over the final closing price may have got people excited; the press also speculates about the possibility of a tie up between masmovil and EUS.
Remember that EUS have two local banks on their register each with 20% and according to press reports are looking to exit over the long term.

[mach100] 09/6/2020 21:45

Cerrito, am I right in thinking there will be divis of around 17p in July? 13 or 14p from Euskatel and its own 2.6p divi. Quiet a good yield and might explain why the share price is getting soem legs in the last few days.

[cerrito] 09/6/2020 19:23

Dekle, you are right about the pay of both O’Hare and Samuelson and that is even before their fees from Euskaltel. Indeed the NED’s look after themselves well given it is not the most complicated company.
You are right at the amount of shares held by institutional investors who had 81% of the shares in May and which explains the wide bid off spread. I see the investor with the largest holding is Marwyn and I do not see them as leading the charge to reduce exec remuneration. I also see that they no longer have a seat on Zeg’s board.
All this helps explain the discount that these sharers trade to NAV,
I have not read these very well having bought in January at 109ish. I had these in 16/17 and did well selling at 200+and it would be nice to think that Zeg will get up there again but do not see a catalyst for them to do so.
Those who bought in the mid 80’s a few weeks back will not regret it..

[mach100] 09/6/2020 16:42

Well Dekle they pass on 100% of the dividend they recieve from Euskatel so they can;t be called greedy. And if they deliver on their promises shareholders won't mind about the pay so much. Furthermore there are large institutional holders who must have some sway on remuneration.
The share price is growing strongly in the last fews days. Is it sending a strong signal to the market?

[dekle] 09/6/2020 16:29

I hadn't realised the level of executive pay. Seems excessive to me

[skyship] 02/6/2020 08:10

Chart breakout - been quite a common pattern recently.

[hugepants] 01/6/2020 22:20

Euskaltel up 10% today for some reason

[cerrito] 14/5/2020 15:00

I had a canter through there results.
Good that they will be passing through all the Euskaltel dividends.
I did not get the impression that any other deals are imminent and of course their current financial fire power is limited - which in some ways is as it should be given one would not want them to have a lot of cash hanging around.
I was surprised to see that they had a borrowing facility with Virgin as that seemed rather desperate but relieved to see that it had expired unused.
Incidentally as a Virgin user here in the UK my sense is it is getting expensive and service is detiorating and let's hope people in Spain do not think that.
The key is that we have an Euskaltel investment valued at E341m and the corporate costs were E5.7m in 2019 of which personnel costs were E4.3m. The corporate cost figure was up from E3.9m in 2018 due to bonuses.
Just as well that it trades at a discount to NAV
On May 13 they calculate NAV at £1.14 down from £1.37 at year end- largely due to a fall in the value of the EUS shares from E341m to E272m.
At current time and prices see no reason to buy or sell.

[cerrito] 23/4/2020 09:19

Eus share p[rice up 1.5% to E6.59 post results.
May buy more ZEG shares..would help if there was more liquidity.