GlobalConnect delivered positive growth despite eventful 2020

During its first year as one company, GlobalConnect Group connected a record number of private households with fiber based broadband and successfully managed to utilize cross market synergies in its B2B business, having laid the foundation for a continued growth journey the coming years.

GlobalConnect Group’s 2020 annual report tells the story of a transforming year for the digital infrastructure and network provider, going through a company merger while facing the effects of a global pandemic. The revenue amounted to EUR 577m in 2020, a 7.6% organic growth increase compared to in 2019. Profitability also increased, as the adjusted EBITDA improved to EUR 272m (47,2%) from EUR 243m (44,3%) the year before.

“Given a very eventful year, merging two companies operating across five countries, I’m very pleased with how quickly we adjusted and made necessary changes so we can continue or growth journey, now as one integrated company”, said GlobalConnect’s Group CEO, Martin Lippert.

As many industries were slowed down by the effects of COVID-19, GlobalConnect managed to maintain stable operational efficiency, while growing within both its business areas, B2B and B2C.

Key steps taken to enable future B2B growth
In 2020, the network solution of tomorrow, SD-WAN, was successfully launched across the group, harmonizing GlobalConnect’s B2B offering in all markets. This has paved the way for its new customer proposition – catering to organizations’ all connectivity needs as one integrated provider.

The group decided to carve out its international carrier business, by launching a standalone brand and business unit, GlobalConnect Carrier. The new business area reaps the benefits of the company merger and its extended fiber network footprint covering Northern Europe. GlobalConnect Carrier targets tech giants with high capacity connectivity needs as well as carriers and system integrators who are looking for a digital gateway into the Nordics.

“During 2020, our industry witnessed sales coming to a standstill due to COVID-19, as less tenders took place and fewer decisions were being made. However, despite tough market conditions, I’m proud that we managed to uphold our business, while forming an industry leading a future proof product portfolio and offering. With a truly customer centric approach, we are now ready to increase our market share, by challenging an industry that for far too long has gotten away with dated and complicated business models,” said Lippert.

Increased broadband demand enabled a record-breaking year
GlobalConnect’s consumer business broke new grounds and new records in 2020, connecting an all-time high 60,863 homes in Sweden and 14,790 homes in Norway, while successfully getting its Danish B2C business up and running, rolling out fiber in three danish cities its first operating year.

“In 2020 we saw a rapid demand for stable, secure and fast broadband. The lockdown we faced as a result of the pandemic, shed light on the importance of connectivity; for maintaining social relations and entertainment, as well as working from home, medical care and homeschooling. The high demand and our improved fiber rollout efficiency made 2020 a record braking year. Our ambition is to connect even more households in 2021”, Lippert said.

Contact:
Kamran Alemdar
Group CMO, Marketing & Communications
kamran.alemdar@globalconnect.se

About GlobalConnect Group
GlobalConnect Group is one of the leading digital infrastructure and data communication providers in Northern Europe. The Group delivers end-to-end solutions across its own infrastructure consisting of 84,000 kilometers fiber network and 27,000 sqm data center space in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Finland. GlobalConnect Group employs approximately 1,700 people, has 30,000 B2B customers and connects more than 380,000 private households with a high-capacity fiber network. GlobalConnect Group is the result of 2019 and 2020 mergers between Broadnet, GlobalConnect and IP-Only. In the B2C segment, the group operates under the brands IP-Only, HomeNet and Onefiber, while operating as GlobalConnect in the B2B segment across all its markets. GlobalConnect Group is owned by global investment organization EQT, one of Europe’s largest infrastructure investors.