Three UK reports Q1 trading update

Key Highlights

• Total revenue up 2% to £581m vs £570m
• Total margin up 1% to £359m vs £356m while net AMPU is up YoY by 3%,
• Strong growth in Home, SMARTY, Business and Wholesale
• Strong growth in contract base, up 5% YoY with significant growth in SMARTY
• Covid and lockdown measures significantly reduced prepay customers, with total active customers (90 days) down 6.5% YoY
• Contract churn is 1.3%, reduced in in Q1 2021 through strong retention initiatives
• Capex spend YTD is 55% higher due to significant network investment in the year as we continue the rollout of 5G and to enhance the performance of our 4G network

Robert Finnegan, Chief Executive of Three UK, said:

“This is an encouraging set of results for the quarter. Three UK has shown significant resilience and I’m really pleased to see the growth in some of our key business units and in our contract base. We continue to make good progress on our mission to provide better connectivity every day, for every Three UK customer.

“We’re investing more than £2 billion in transforming our Network and IT infrastructure and our rollout of 5G is progressing well with 5G now live in 193 towns and cities. Just a few weeks ago, we won two 10MHz blocks of low frequency spectrum at the auction, tripling the amount of low frequency spectrum we own. It will have a transformative effect on our customers’ experience. Coupled with our existing low frequency spectrum and the UK’s largest 5G spectrum holding, we are in a fantastic position to deliver a great network experience for our customers.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Three for their hard work in what have been challenging circumstances. I’m very excited about what’s next for us as the high street and our stores begin to reopen and restrictions continue to ease across the UK.”