DGAP-News

freenet AG announces provisional figures for 2014: Increase of EBITDA and free cash flow leads to a higher dividend - Seite 2

euros, the mobile communications segment was again dominant in the freenet
Group.
Customer ownership (sum total of contract and no-frills customers), with
8.92 million mobile communications customers (previous year: 8.76 million),
was an essential pillar of the company's business due to the fact that this
is where direct and exclusive customer relations and the resultant
cross-selling potential supports the further expansion of digital lifestyle
business activities. At the same time, the number of particularly valuable
contract customers further increased by more than 150 thousand to 6.01
million. The no-frills customer group, which is reached primarily via
online distribution channels, increased further in number by some 12
thousand to 2.91 million. The further earnings-neutral derecognition of
inactive SIM cards by network operators, on the other hand, again led to a
significant fall in prepaid customer numbers, this time to 3.81 million
(previous year: 4.53 million).

Average monthly revenue per contract customer (postpaid ARPU) decreased by
0.9 euros to 21.4 euros. This was caused primarily by the increased
readiness of the freenet Group's existing customers to switch to more
attractive tariff offers. This downward trend recently slowed down,
however. The pressure on prices in the no-frills discount market segment
was again palpable in the financial year ended. No-frills ARPU in the
financial year 2014 decreased accordingly by 0.6 euros to 2.8 euros
compared with the previous year. Prepaid ARPU was almost unchanged compared
with the previous year at 2.9 euros.

Gross profit increased by 46.8 million euros to 778.1 million euros
(previous year: 731.2 million euros) - largely to the expansion of the
consolidated group through the addition of freenet digital Group. As a
result of the effects referred to above, Group EBITDA totalled 365.6
million euros, 8.2 million euros more than in the previous year (previous
year: 357.4 million euros).

"The provisional results for the financial year impressively demonstrate
the success of our strategic advancement to become a genuine digital
lifestyle provider", says Christoph Vilanek, CEO of freenet AG. "We will
continue resolutely along this path and sharpen our profile accordingly in
the dynamic competitive environment."

Depreciation and amortisation showed a year-on-year increase of 8.3 million
euros to 64.4 million euros (previous year: 56.1 million euros). This is