Hi, good afternoon everyone. Welcome to our SGPS 24 results conference call. As usual, we have the executive team in the room with us. We'll go through a brief presentation of the highlights of the results with Joseph Ferreira, our CFO, and then the team are available for Q&A after that.
Hi, good morning everyone. Thank you for joining the call today. I'll go briefly through the results of the quarter, and then we'll go into Q&A, as mentioned by Maria João. So maybe three key messages to start off. As you've probably seen in our results, you know, the execution on our strategy is really materializing in a very strong business momentum, and that reflects, obviously, in healthy financial results. We continue to grow our market share of retail revenues, driven a lot by our mobile market share, but also from the growth in both fixed and convergent customer base. And then, you know, summing all of this, brings us to a very strong quarter in terms of, you know, revenue growth, more than 6% year on year, and I'd say very efficient cost control, across the board.
So maybe let's go into a bit more into the details and just provide a couple of highlight numbers, and then we'll go into double-click on those. You know, revenues overall with a 6.1% growth for the quarter, reflecting on EBITDA at 6.3% growth and EBITDA after leases 5.8%. CapEx continues the downward trend as expected and as we've been communicating in the past, with a decline of 4.9% to roughly EUR 93 million. And this all of this reflects in terms of net income in a growth of 14.6% to EUR 52.6 million, and free cash flow of roughly threefold from the previous quarter, although there are some one-off effects that I'll explain in just a little bit. So overall, a very positive quarter.
In terms of consolidated revenues, as you see, you know, from the telco side, the growth of 6.3%, and also on the audiovisuals and cinema, a growth of 1.7%, which leads, you know, globally to the 6.1% that I mentioned before. Which in terms of, you know, the consolidated EBITDA, the split on the telco and audiovisuals and cinema businesses, the 6.3% decomposes in 6.9% on the telco side and 1.7% negative on the audiovisuals and cinema. And that, I'll also explain a bit the drivers, but in a little bit. Double-clicking on the CapEx, obviously a very important aspect, that we've been doing a lot of positive work in our perspective. Overall, CapEx is down by 4.9% year- on- year. Obviously this has a structural decline on the telco side, especially on the expansionary side of the business.
So a decline of 14.5% on the expansion side, 10.5% on the baseline telco, and a bit of an increase of 7.5% on customer-related CAPEX, mostly driven by higher gross adds. So, you know, commercial activity that drives and pushes these costs a little bit up. But overall, it's a very positive trajectory. In terms of, you know, cash flow generation on the OPEX side, just decomposing the cash flow. On the OPEX side, we saw an increase of 5.9%. This is driven by several factors. I would just highlight maybe on the B2B side, the growth that we've seen has driven by some IT and project costs has driven some of the OpEx up. We've also seen, as we mentioned in previous quarters, on the energy side, a bit of an increase due to the tariffs.
And we also saw a slight increase in terms of content costs driven by, you know, the premium services that we provide. So this is a bit of the story on the OpEx side. On the leasing side, an increase of 9.3%. Here, the main drivers are essentially a higher number of sites that we are utilizing, and also an adjustment in price that, as you know, is capped at 2%, but this is also as a reflection on the year-on-year results. So overall, the growth in EBITDA after leases minus CapEx of 19.8%, so very, very positive. Maybe talking a little bit about, I'd say some operational successes. Firstly, on the next generation networks coverage side, we are today at 80% coverage, roughly, so 80% coverage of FTTH.
On the 5G side, we continue to grow the number of sites, and today we have virtually 99% of coverage across the country, and we are the first operator to reach 100% of Portuguese municipalities. So 99% in terms of outdoor coverage, and we are very happy about the progress that we've made and obviously this will have positive implications on the CapEx going forward. In terms of business momentum, as I mentioned before, you know, growth across all segments. On the mobile, roughly 100,000 net adds, especially on the postpaid side, as it has been a trend in the past quarters, but also on the pay-TV and the broadband side, we've been growing our net adds with some pressure, obviously, on DTH, some of it actually driven by ourselves by migrating clients to next generation networks.
Oh, maybe going into the audiovisuals and cinemas, just to provide an overview. Overall, revenue grew at 1.7%, despite the decrease in number of tickets sold in the quarter, so a decrease year- on- year of 5.3%. We've had, you know, with Inside Out and Deadpool and Wolverine, very strong results in the beginning of the quarter, but then attendance also always has a bit of volatility and went a bit below our expectations. So overall, a slight decrease in the number of tickets sold. To wrap this up, in terms of financial performance, when we look at consolidated net income, an increase of EUR 6.7 million. The main driver here, obviously, the EBITDA expansion that I've been going through.
Also, on the D&A side, we had a couple of adjustments here, very focused on some lifetime adjustments, namely in software and some network assets. When we look at, going forward, when we look at free cash flow, as stated in our press release, firstly, in terms of operational cash flow, a very interesting expansion of EUR 6.9 million. Then we had a couple of one-off effects in the quarter that actually, you know, drive a lot of these EUR 88 million. On one side, on the income side, as mentioned in our press release, we had an adjustment of taxes paid last year that would now return to us. So this is the bulk of the value.
Then on the others, another element that we received related to activity fees of EUR 12.9 million, and that is also driving the free cash flow significantly higher. Finally, before going into Q&A, we continue to have a very strong balance sheet position at 1.5 times, you know, net financial debt to EBITDA after leases. So clearly below our strategic funding target of two times. Our average cost of debt is roughly in line with year on year, so starting to decrease slowly as we move forward. And we have a very solid cash and liquidity position. So very robust overall. With that overview, maybe I would hand over to Q&A.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone. We will take our first question, and the question comes from the line of Fernando Cordeiro from Banco Santander. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hello. Good morning. Thanks for taking my two questions. The first question is related with your fixed footprint. While your CapEX has been declining, particularly on the network side, we have seen an acceleration on the footprint expansion, and after 93,000-94,000 new homes in the quarter and planning towards 300,000 in the year, I would like to understand basically two things. First thing, which is your current commercial success in the new areas, particularly which is the level of take-up that you are achieving after 12 or 24 months after deploying? And second, what, what are your plans going forward in terms of expanding your fixed footprint? In that sense, how much is still pending to be rolled out? And the other question is related with shareholder remuneration.
Considering the extraordinary effects in free cash flow that you have already reflected in 2020 in the first nine months, I would like to understand how should we think of shareholder remuneration for next year. Thank you.
Thank you, Fernando. Regarding footprint expansion, I think it's important to highlight that part of the numbers, the part of that expansion on the numbers you mentioned is third-party networks. So the way you, it's, it turns, it gets easier to link with the CapEx numbers going down since a part of this is third-party, which obviously doesn't imply CapEx from our side, and going forward, we will continue to expand, but again, a relevant part of that expansion will come also from third-party networks. So you will not see that reflected directly on CapEx going forward. In terms of commercial success, I think you understand if I don't give too much information.
We are very happy with the success, namely on areas we are entering for the first time, but I don't feel comfortable giving concrete numbers to answer your question. And in terms of shareholder remuneration, as you know, we'll have to wait for the board early March or late February. That's where the matter will be discussed and decisions will be made.
Okay. Very clear. Thank you very much.
Thank you. We will take our next question. Your next question comes from the line of José Antonio Cerezo from CaixaBank. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two, if I may. First of all, congratulations for the results. I would wanna know if, considering the strong evolution in terms of EBITDA, both in sales and EBITDA growth, you're like 6%, in the first nine months. How should we see the evolution going on in the fourth quarter? Do you see this trend could continue being on? I know it's very, it's too early to assess the quarter, but do you think that the growth experienced in the first nine months is like a good proxy for what we should expect in the fourth quarter? That's my first question. My second one is related to price pressure right now.
Regarding yesterday it was announced that Digi will launch its services on Monday. After this, are you feeling that potential price increases for the next year could it be harder to pass those price increases as customers in Portugal are being more reluctant to accept those? Or how are you seeing the competitive pricing and market rational pricing for 2025?
Thank you for your two questions. Starting with the last one, we don't see those things as being related. It's not relevant for us what is going to happen. The potential entrance of a new player in the market will not affect our decision, but that decision is not made yet. We will make that decision in the next couple of weeks, but it's still too early to give you a concrete answer. Again, I don't think the two issues are related. In terms of expectations for Q4, I think it's fair to see the first nine months as a good proxy in terms of year-on-year growth. The trends are very stable, positive, and stable, and we are already almost in November. We don't expect any surprises for the fourth quarter.
Perfect. Thank you.
Thank you. We will take our next question. The next question comes from the line of NOS SGPS José Koch Ferreira, from Bernstein. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to ask questions as well. So three, what I think is quick ones from my side, if I can. The first one is, and I'm sorry to touch again on the DG point, but I think a lot of people would be interested. But I'll frame the question as sort of so the three main incumbents in Portugal, they've all launched second value brands. What role do you think these second brands will play when it comes to defending versus potential aggression from the new entrant? And what sort of positioning are you seeing from your competitors in the market? Are people or are competitors trying to recontract their customers for another 12 months, 24 months? So some color that would be useful. And then two sort of much more quicker questions.
One on site densification. Do you still expect to have to increase site densification in 2025 more substantially, or do you think you're already pretty quite sort of at the end of the road in terms of increasing your number of sites? And finally, just quickly on B2B in terms of the mix, would you say this quarter there most of the revenue came from the lower margin, IT side of the business, or is there also some growth on the higher margin, sort of more pure telco business? Thank you.
Thank you very much. Well, starting with the last one, so it's a balanced mix, the usual mix. So we have growth on the lower margin, as you call it, services and better margin services. Both are contributing to top line. And the mix was not materially changed over the last quarter. In terms of site densification for 2025, the answer is no. Most of the rollout is done. It's over in the past. So for 2025, there's always some sites, but just a residual number, nothing significant. Again, the rollout is pretty much done. In terms of the new entrant and value brands, well, we see, I don't think we have a value brand per se. We have a second brand called Woo, which is a digital brand. It's positioned as a digital brand.
It has a fully digital customer experience, which is something very different from what the rest of the market, including ourselves, is offering. We intend to continue to grow that digital brand strongly, but to be completely transparent and honest, we see that brand and that value proposition as a good way to fight back potential positionings that new entrants can bring to the market.
Understood. That's. I appreciate the color. Thank you.
Thank you. We will take our next question. And the question comes from the line of Antonio Cerezo from A.S. Independent Research. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi. Hi. Good morning. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you for taking my questions. In fact, just one. So, assuming that there will be pricing pressure in next year due to the entrant, my question is related to the cost side and taking into consideration that they have been doing very well. So do you think you really still believe that there's margin to keep the costs under control, in a way to manage the pricing pressure, or do you believe that there will be pressure on the margin? Thank you for the question. Thank you very much.
Yeah. Thank you for the question. Yes. Let's face it. We are expecting some pricing pressure next year. But regarding the cost side of the business, we believe that we are still very far from exhausting the potential for additional efficiencies, very far. Actually, given a few initiatives that we are just starting to roll out, many of which are supported by AI, but not exclusively AI, we expect the pace of these efficiencies to pick up and accelerate during 2025. So yes, we still see a lot of potential to reduce the cost side of the business.
Good. Thank you very much.
Thank you. We will take our next question. The next question comes from the line of Stéphane Beyazian from Oddo BHF. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Yes. Thank you. I've got to that, Stéphane Beyazian, I'm from Oddo. I've got two, if I can. One is a follow-up, very interesting comments. Thank you on your second brands. Can you give us an idea of what they represent today in terms of customer base and if it's not, would you overall in the market, you know, Woo, WTF, Yorn, Moche, how much they represent today of the mobile market? And I've got a second question regarding Nowo. I was just wondering whether you think it's potentially, you know, a big positive for DG strategy. That's what I'm trying to understand, because Nowo had some plans, you know, in terms of infrastructure in the past couple of years, you know, to modernize their network to fiber and also to roll out some 5G.
What have you seen Nowo doing in the past couple of years and to what extent, you know, that could accelerate the strategy of the new entrant in the market? Thank you.
Thank you. Starting with that one, we haven't seen a lot from Nowo, to be completely honest and transparent. We haven't seen a lot for a number of years, not just the last couple of years. It's for a number of years. We haven't seen any investment in infrastructure. We believe that their infrastructure is quite old, no significant investments in updating those. The result is that we can see from market shares that they have been losing market share. So the momentum clearly is not on their side. So I don't see, I don't know how much it can contribute to the new entrant positioning, but I don't see it as a significant change, material change in terms of what we were expecting already. I'm not sure I understood the question of on who.
I think I understood that you were trying to figure out how big it is today, right?
Yes. Absolutely.
It's still small in mobile. We believe that we should have a market share below 2%. But we have been fine-tuning the operation and not really pushing for growth, which will likely happen starting 2025. We see the potential from that brand to be, of course, higher than 2% of the market, but one should expect that growth to come in 2025.
Very clear. Thank you. Very clear. Thank you.
Thank you. This concludes today's question and answer session. I'll now hand back for closing remarks.
Okay. Well, thank you very much for being on the call today, and as usual, we'll be available for follow-up calls if you like. Look forward to speaking to you next earnings season.