U.S. stocks mixed; investors digest economic data as Nvidia weighs
Investing.com -- Iliad expects to surpass its full-year operating free cash flow goal of 2 billion euros, supported by stronger momentum in Italy and proceeds from a partial sale of its OpCore stake.
The telecom group said demand in Italy has continued to improve, helping lift free cash flow by 25% in the first nine months of the year. Cash generation in the Italian unit was 2.5 times higher than a year earlier, providing a key boost to group performance.
Together with the funds raised from selling half of OpCore, the company cut its net leverage to 2.3 times EBITDA at the end of September, down from 2.7 times at the end of 2024.
EBITDA after leases (EBITDAL) reached 3 billion euros in the period from January to September, an increase of 5.6%, with France and Poland delivering the strongest contributions.
Subscriber trends were also positive across the group. Free in France inched up to 23.2 million customers, Poland reached 15.6 million, and Italy added around 300,000 users to end the period with 12.8 million.
“This quarter has confirmed the iliad Group’s position as Europe’s growth leader. In an increasingly tough environment, we continued to combine commercial momentum with financial strength. Our ability to innovate – with services like Free TV and a VPN included in our 4G/5G Mobile plans – and the standards of excellence we set for subscriber experience remain at the heart of our business model," said Thomas Reynaud, CEO of the Iliad Group.
"Thanks to the performance of all of our geographies, we are on track to exceed our target of €2 billion in operating free cash flow this year," he added.
Iliad said it continues to review potential M&A opportunities in France and Italy and is expanding its data-centre footprint through OpCore.