Telco makes call on public listing
Vodafone prepares for 2020 float and reveals surprising link-up with rival Spark
Vodafone will list its New Zealand business in 2020, chief executive Jason Paris has revealed. The new boss also says his company has begun negotiations with Spark to put the Spark Sport app on Vodafone TV, a play that will confound pundits who saw Vodafone sticking close to Sky TV, despite their merger being blocked. The Spark Sport app will carry the Rugby World Cup 2019, among other content.
Paris says the decision to list in 2020 was the trigger for his predecessor Russell Stanners to quit. The timeframe was too long for Stanners, who had already been in the chair for 12 years.
Vodafone will be positioned as a dividend stock, Paris says.
The CEO said it was his job to get the company’s commercials into shape during 2019 in preparation for the 2020 float.
“When investors look at us they don’t see us as growth stock, they see us a yield stock. So we need clear line of sight to modest growth year-onyear before the IPO,” he said. “That’s more likely to come from us running a more efficient business and reducing costs than an expectation we are going to get significant revenue growth, given we are competing on price.”
His personal preference as a Kiwi would be for a NZX listing, but says an Australian or dual ASX/NZX listing is possible.
Paris also outlined ambitious plans for Vodafone TV, which he says he wants to extend from Vodafone premium customers to a wider mix, potentially including people with different ISPs.
Even more radically, he says Vodafone is already in talks with Spark to add its Spark Sport app to Vodafone TV when Spark Sport launches in the new year. The latest incarnation of Vodafone TV was launched in October last year. It delivers channels over UFB fibre rather than satellite. Its content is centred on Sky TV channels, but also includes a Netflix, TVNZ OnDemand and 3Now apps. Paris had yet to get a detailed briefing on Spark’s Spark Sport app announcement yesterday, but he said he was happy the telco appeared to have chosen a “gold-plated” streaming partner (iStreamPlanet, which currently supports streaming for the Super Bowl, the NBA League Pass and the Olympics).
“I hope it goes well, because I want New Zealanders to embrace OTT content delivery,” [OTT is telco-speak for over-the-top or content delivered via a broadband connection.]
Paris raised the prospect that Vodafone TV could be pitched as an easy way to view Spark Sport content directly on a regular television.
Vodafone NZ had no plans to bid for sports rights, Paris said. Its plan was to partner with Sky and others for Vodafone TV content.
For 2017, Vodafone NZ reported a profit of $57.5 million, turning around a loss of $18.3m loss. Revenue increased 2.8 per cent to $2.05 billion.
The telco first raised the prospect of floating its New Zealand business late last year, with an Australasian roadshow for potential investors.
The roadshow was a sounding-out process, and did not include a mooted IPO value.