Big news is coming from CityFibre this morning. They hit a pretty impressive milestone of connecting 400,000 customers and more importantly, announced a positive EBITDA for their first quarter of 2024!
The sales performance of CityFibre’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) partners has shown remarkable improvement, with customer connections surpassing 400,000, a staggering 77% increase year-on-year. CityFibre is now adding over 1,000 new customers daily, with more than 330 field service teams achieving an industry-leading Right First Time (RFT) installation rate of over 95%.
The penetration numbers aren’t the only thing impressing us this morning, though. The company has achieved positive EBITDA performance for the full three months ending March 31, 2024, exceeding its target to break even in the first half of the year. Quarterly revenues have soared by over 30% year-on-year. These achievements signify a new era of growth for CityFibre, demonstrating significant progress in enhancing commercial performance and operational efficiency.
In January, CityFibre secured five new contracts under the UK Government’s ‘Project Gigabit’ initiative, bringing its total to nine contracts valued at almost £800 million in subsidies. This extensive involvement in Project Gigabit has led to a strategic reprofiling of CityFibre’s build, focusing on densifying rural areas adjacent to its existing urban assets. These contracts will facilitate rollout to over 1.3 million subsidised and commercial premises, positioning CityFibre as the primary provider of fibre infrastructure in these regions.
March witnessed CityFibre’s acquisition of Lit Fibre, accelerating its nationwide full fibre rollout by up to 300,000 premises. This acquisition is the first of several anticipated deals over the next two years, underscoring CityFibre’s strategic pursuit of alternative network acquisitions as a key growth driver towards and potentially beyond its 8 million premises target.
CityFibre’s rollout to up to 8 million homes remains on track, with over 3.6 million premises passed, of which more than 3.3 million are Ready For Service (RFS). The company is set to deliver 1 million RFS premises in 2024 through its ongoing build programme and M&A pipeline. With ‘work in progress’, Lit Fibre integration and expansion, Project Gigabit subsidised and underpinned commercial rollouts, CityFibre is poised to surpass 6 million premises towards its full 8 million target.
Greg Mesch, Chief Executive Officer at CityFibre, said: “2024 has got off to a flying start for CityFibre. We’ve achieved profitability ahead of schedule, increased revenues by more than 30%, reached over 400k customers, secured almost £400m in new Project Gigabit contracts and acquired Lit Fibre.
“With a clear path to 6m premises we are making great headway towards, and potentially beyond, our 8m target. Over this entire footprint, we will offer our partners the best product, service and economics of any scaled wholesale platform in the UK.”
Steve Holliday, non-executive Chairman at CityFibre, said: “Achieving EBITDA profitability marks an important milestone for CityFibre. The UK market needs a third infrastructure platform of scale to ensure competition matures and that it continues to deliver for consumers and the country. As a profitable business, with supportive investors and enthusiastic ISP partners, it’s clear that CityFibre is the core of that third platform.”
