Liberty Global Raises Cash Target as Revenue Falls
The company lifted its year-end corporate cash target to about $2.0 billion after asset sales.
Liberty Global (LBTYA), the broadband and mobile operator, posted a 7.7% decline in second-quarter revenue as weaker service trends outweighed improving subscriber momentum in several markets.
The quarter paired pressure on the operating businesses with a faster reshaping of the portfolio. Liberty Global completed $900 million of Growth-portfolio disposals through the period and raised its year-end cash target by $500 million after roughly $1.2 billion of total asset monetizations.
Consolidated revenue fell to $1.172 billion, a 6.0% decline on a rebased basis, while adjusted EBITDA decreased 3.1% to $324.9 million, or 4.2% rebased. The adjusted EBITDA margin widened to about 27.7% from 26.4% because EBITDA declined more slowly than revenue. The quarterly net loss narrowed to $357.8 million from $2.774 billion a year earlier.
VMO2 accounted for much of the pressure, with revenue down 7.9% rebased to $3.220 billion. Adjusted EBITDA fell 2.2% as efficiency programs, lower bad debt and reduced sales commissions partly offset weaker service revenue. Fixed average revenue per user declined 4.6%, while the business lost 28,200 broadband customers and 63,000 postpaid mobile subscribers, though trading in both categories improved from a year earlier.
VodafoneZiggo returned to positive broadband additions after five consecutive quarters of improvement, adding 7,200 customers for its best quarterly result in more than six years. Postpaid additions reached 31,700, the strongest performance since 2023. Revenue still declined 1.5% rebased and adjusted EBITDA fell 7.6% as spending on network reliability, programming and marketing increased.
Telenet added 6,100 broadband customers for a fifth consecutive positive quarter, though additions slowed from the prior period. Its revenue fell 1.0% rebased, while adjusted EBITDA rose 4.8% as lower wholesale and programming costs helped offset a VAT-copyright adjustment. Lower capital spending lifted adjusted EBITDA less property-and-equipment additions 66.8% to $78.6 million.
That cash-flow improvement contrasted with Wyre’s fiber build, where property-and-equipment additions rose 60.8% to $216.9 million and adjusted EBITDA less those additions swung to negative $75.3 million. Across the company, quarterly operating cash flow rose 54.8% to $230.9 million, although first-half adjusted free cash outflow widened 37.2%.
Liberty Global maintained its 2026 operating-company guidance. VMO2 continues to expect service revenue and adjusted EBITDA to decline 3% to 5%, VodafoneZiggo expects stable revenue to a low-single-digit decline and a mid-to-high-single-digit EBITDA decline, and Telenet expects stable revenue with low-single-digit EBITDAaL growth. The company’s final EdgeConneX exit generated $604 million and an investment return above 30%, giving the portfolio sales a larger role in year-end liquidity as operating revenue remained under pressure.