Sunrise Communications targets further Swiss growth after spin-off

By Elizaveta Gladun and Marleen Kaesebier

(Reuters) - Sunrise Communications posted a small rise in 2024 core profit on Friday, aided by cost control and customer growth, and said it aimed to further grow its share of the Swiss telecoms market after its spin-off from Liberty Global.

Sunrise has seen rapid growth since it was acquired by Liberty Global in 2021, positioning itself as the second largest telecoms player in its home market, only behind state-controlled Swisscom.

It is striving to reinforce this position after its return to the Swiss stock exchange in November, notably by raising its business-to-business market share, CEO André Krause told Reuters.

"In B2B, we are underrepresented in terms of market share," he said. "We want to win more customer connections, but we also want to drive more brass into the customers that we have."

He added Sunrise had no plans to expand internationally, as it focuses on growth opportunities available in Switzerland.

"The reason for the spin-off was really to create a simple single-country equity story," Krause said, adding he was confident Sunrise could keep winning market share from Swisscom.

Its lease-adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDAaL) rose 0.7% to 1.03 billion Swiss francs ($1.15 billion) last year, just below analysts' average forecast of 1.04 billion francs.

The figure has been rebased to exclude inorganic costs related to the spin-off, such as legal costs associated with regulatory requirements and filings in both the U.S. and Switzerland, finance chief Jany Fruytier said.

Sunrise said it had reduced its net debt by around 1.5 billion francs since September, nearly half its market value of 3.2 billion francs at the time of its re-listing, in line with its deleveraging plan.

It also confirmed its targets for 2025.

Sunrise's shares fell 2.8% by 1003 GMT, with Barclays analysts pointing to weakness in its consumer business due to high promotions, though this was mostly offset by the strong B2B business.

($1 = 0.8991 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Elizaveta Gladun and Marleen Käsebier in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi)