Cellnex reduces losses by 90% but records losses of 28 million in 2024

Cellnex reported a loss of €28 million in 2024 , a figure that it still considers positive given the €297 million loss in the previous year. The telecommunications infrastructure company revealed that it managed to reduce its losses by 90% year-on-year.

The company's CEO, Marco Patuano, highlights, in the presentation of the results that takes place in Barcelona this Wednesday, that the relationship with customers has improved, which has allowed Cellnex to "renew contracts as they end".

The CEO also maintains that the consolidation movements observed throughout 2024 in Europe, "specifically in England and Spain, did not affect Cellnex". Patuano also recalls that the Spanish company managed to complete the sale of its minority stake in the Nordic countries (Sweden and Denmark) , in Ireland and also in Austria.

"The 2024 results were above the objectives we had set for the year . In fact, free cash flow doubled compared to 2023, which represents a significant improvement for Cellnex and meant that revenues and net income also improved considerably", says Marco Patuano.

In the same presentation, Raimon Trias, CFO of Cellnex, also highlighted the improvement in free cash flow, which achieved its second year of positive results, and its relationship with revenues and profits, allowing the company to present the best result. An example of this is a 7.7% growth in revenues to 3.9 billion euros, while adjusted EBITDA improved by 8% to 3.25 billion euros.

" Towers continue to represent the largest weight and in 2024 they represented 80% of the group's sales. They grew 7% in 2024 to 3.209 billion euros. Fiber represents the remaining 20% ​​of our business and also showed generous growth", highlights Raimon Trias.

The CFO further explains that "in these last two years [2023 and 2024] we have invested more than four billion euros" and that there is a new path that Cellnex is preparing to take, namely in terms of fiber, towers and land.

The company's executives also refer to the share buyback plan, launched in mid-January this year, for a total value of 800 million euros . Marco Patuano indicates that this plan has as its sole condition the sale of the activity in Ireland, which will be concluded this Friday, February 28, and will go ahead "in full force on Monday".

"This 800 million euro program is the first step in an extensive program that we want to launch in the coming years. We cannot forget that we have dividends of 1.5 billion euros", he says. And Marco Patuano asks the question: "why launch a share buyback program if we pay dividends? We are leaders and have a materially superior growth base. We consider ourselves a safe stock".

"The gap between the target price and the market price is significant. Our target is 45 euros and our market is 33.5 euros, and we want more. There are categories of investors who want dividends, and that led us to the conclusion that we will invest 500 million euros in dividends in 2026." And will that mean that Cellnex will only reinvest 300 million euros in share buybacks? "I don't know, we'll have to see which way it goes, but we've decided that these 800 million are so attractive that they create huge value for our shareholders," says the CEO of Cellnex.