The 2021 financial year was like a real obstacle course for Iliad, the holding company of the operator Free in France. Between the launch of an operator on the highly competitive business telecoms market with Free Pro, the conquest of the Polish telecoms market or its withdrawal from the Paris Stock Exchange, Xavier Niel’s group has not been idle during this a year described as a “year of transformation” by its managing director, Thomas Reynaud.
Reading the results of the holding, published on Tuesday, it seems that the bet is proving to be a winner, the group recording a net profit of around 526 million euros over the year, up 25.1 % over the year. At the end of a busy financial year, Iliad recorded a turnover of 7.6 billion euros, up 29.2% over the past 12 months, of which 5.2 billion came from the French market ( +3.8%). In Italy, the operator earned revenues of around 802 million euros in 2021 (+ 19%), compared to 1.6 billion euros in Poland, where the group has recently been active via its operator Play, acquired in 2020.
Finally, the group’s B to B activity – carried out through its operator Free Pro, launched in March 2021 – recorded a turnover of 99 million euros in 2021, revenues up by 30.8 % over the year. Better: the group’s operating profits rose by 50.7% over the year, to 2.9 billion euros. As for investment expenditure, it amounted to 2.3 billion euros, up 22.9%.
20.5 million subscribers in France
Iliad now has 20.5 million subscribers in the French market, an increase of 439,000 subscribers over the year. On the fixed line, its operator Free recorded the arrival of 203,000 additional subscribers, for a total of 6.9 million subscribers over the year.
A performance that owes a lot to the attraction of the French for fiber: in this market, Free has 3.7 million subscribers, or 970,000 more than last year. With regard to mobile, Free now totals 13.6 million subscribers, or 236,000 more subscribers over one year. Here again, Free’s performance is driven by the good commercial performance of its unlimited 4G/5G plan, which totals 696,000 additional subscribers over the year (for a total of 9.2 million subscribers).
In Italy, where Iliad is present on the mobile market, the operator now has 8.5 million subscribers, i.e. 1.3 million more than at the end of 2020. As a reminder, Xavier Niel’s group has great ambitions in the Greater Boot, and bets on an alliance with competing operators to strengthen itself. According to the Italian press, Free Italy could thus establish an agreement with its competitor WindTre with a view to future auctions for obtaining 5G frequencies, the sesames of the new generation of mobile technology, on the other side of the Alps.
Finally, on the Polish market, where Iliad is present via the operator Play, acquired at the start of last year, the latter has 12.4 million subscribers, ie 323,000 more over the year. Of this workforce, the operator has 12.1 million mobile subscribers (+181,000 over the year) and 267,000 fixed subscribers (+142,000). It should be noted that the operator intends to make a name for itself in this market, via the acquisition – in the process of being finalized – of the cable operator UPC Poland. “Beyond our many industrial challenges, in 2022 we will continue to work to remain a group on a human scale, to maintain our uniqueness, to strengthen our European dimension and make a success of our environmental transition,” said Thomas Reynaud, Chief Executive Officer. of the group, as forecasts for the coming financial year.