Proximus Keeps Quietly Gaining Market Share in Q4; Maintaining FVE

Narrow-moat Proximus' fourth-quarter results highlighted the good commercial momentum the company is enjoying, with market share gains in broadband, TV and mobile, adding 14,000, 13,000, and 37,000 consumer subscribers respectively, compared with last quarter. This trend, coupled with the usual price stability in Belgium, is resulting in good sales performance, with sales up 2.8% year over year on an organic basis. Although growth did not result in EBITDA growth (3.8% down in the quarter) due to inflation, employee benefit costs and customer acquisition costs, management expects a positive trend in 2022 due to cost controls, with EBITDA expected to decline 1% in 2022 compared with the 3.5% decline seen this year. We maintain our EUR 20.00 fair value estimate.