It will practically not distribute dividends in the first years and does not rule out making the jump to the Ibex 35
MásOrange (O), the new company resulting from the merger of the former Orange and MásMóvil, will invest 4,000 million euros in the next three years, mainly in the deployment of 5G, fiber and new services, as reported by the teleco this Wednesday.
Specifically, it plans to deploy up to six million new real estate units of its own fiber optics, which will be added to the footprint of 17 million homes that the company already has, as well as increase its 5G coverage in Spain by over 90%.
“The MásOrange industrial plan demonstrates our commitment to investing in Spain in the development of new telecommunications infrastructures at the service of the Spanish market and consumers,” highlighted the CEO of MásOrange, Meinrad Spenger.
In this sense, the industrial plan of the new company – 50% owned by Orange and MásMóvil – also contemplates the search for new growth opportunities, especially through services for the business and public administration segment.
According to estimates, the new company is expected to generate synergies of around 500 million euros per year starting in the fourth year.
Regarding this, MásOrange has explained that more than half of the synergies will be related to the optimization of overlapping infrastructures that can be reinvested in the expansion of 5G and fiber optic networks.
Along these lines, Spenger has emphasized, as he did this past Tuesday at an event in Madrid before the company’s staff, that the expected synergies are not based on worker departures.
“We do not have any plan for forced departures (…) We need motivated and proactive people who live our values. These synergies are based on superfluous costs due to overlap. We do not need two antennas or two cables in the same place. They are not based on departures of personnel. They are based on the best management of our clients,” the manager detailed.
NO DIVIDENDS IN THE FIRST YEARS
On the other hand, Spenger has indicated that the new company emerges with a financial debt of about 12.5 billion euros, of which two thirds are “insured against interest increases.”
“We have a very stable cost of debt. We have been able to do a very significant ‘recosting’ of debt prices this year,” he explained.
Likewise, the CEO of MásOrange has highlighted that the company’s objective is to achieve a debt volume of 3.5 times Ebitda “or less” within a period of “two or three years.”
Thus, he pointed out that “practically no dividends will be distributed” in the first years of the company, something with which, according to the manager, “all shareholders are super aligned.”
“WE COULD BE IN THE IBEX 35”
Spenger explained that the joint revenues of Orange and MásMóvil are around 7,400 million euros (4,400 million Orange and 3,000 million MásMóvil) and that the gross operating profit (Ebitda) before synergies is around 2,650 million euros. .
“With these figures we could be in the Ibex 35,” said the CEO of MásOrange during the presentation of the new company to the press, where he also highlighted that the telecom is one of the 20 largest companies in the country by revenue.
Regarding the intention for MásOrange to be listed on the Ibex 35, Spenger has pointed out that “it may or may not happen.” “No firm decision has been made and it will be made in a few years, when we have demonstrated that we are a solid growth company with somewhat lower leverage,” he highlighted.
Furthermore, he recalled that MásOrange will be the first telecom company by customer volume in Spain, with 30.2 million mobile lines, 7.3 million broadband lines, 2.3 million pay television users and 2.1 millions of clients of “other services”.
These “other services” include devices, financial services, insurance, alarms and security, entertainment centers, energy, telemedicine and IoT (internet of things).
BRANDS
MásOrange has also indicated that it will continue betting on the multi-brand model that both Orange and MásMóvil have developed until now and that has given them “such good results” in recent years.
In this way, MásOrange will have nine main brands (Orange, Yoigo, Jazztel, MásMóvil, Simyo, Pepephone, Lebara, Lyca and Llamaya) and another five regional ones (Euskaltel, R, Telecable, Guuk and Embou).
“Euskalterl, R and Telecable will continue to be the reference brands in their respective markets and will benefit from the investment, innovation and positive impact plans thanks to their integration into MásOrange,” the company highlighted.
As for other brands, such as Virgin Telco, Spenger has explained that the most relevant brands will be promoted, although the decision has not yet been made on the possible disappearance of certain brands.
“In some brands we are going to invest less because they have less return,” said MásOrange’s Director of Operations, Germán López.
CORPORATE IDENTITY
Regarding the company’s new corporate identity, MásOrange’s Director of Operations, Germán López, highlighted that the visual elements of the new brand, a ‘ ‘ and an ‘O’, represent the union of the two groups in a project only.
On the one hand, the ‘More’ represents MásMóvil and for which the ‘ ‘ sign is used, “where everyone fits and everyone adds up,” the manager highlighted. On the other hand, the ‘O’ represents Orange, “the world, universal coverage, security,” he added.
“The new corporate identity aims to symbolize an integrative, simple, innovative, credible and reliable image. In addition, it relies, in its main application, on the colors black, white and orange to create a more modern, fresh image that combines tributes from Orange and MásMóvil”, the company has detailed.
