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Liberty Global plc (LBTYA)

Q3 2021 Earnings Call· Thu, Nov 4, 2021

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Liberty Global's Third Quarter 2021 Investor Call. This call and the associated webcast are the property of Liberty Global, and any redistribution, retransmission or rebroadcast of this call or webcast in any form without the express written consent of Liberty Global is strictly prohibited. [Operator Instructions]. Today's formal presentation materials can be found under the Investor Relations section of Liberty Global's website at libertyglobal.com. After today's formal presentation, instructions will be given for a question-and-answer session. Page 2 of the slides details the company's safe harbor statement regarding forward-looking statements. Today's presentation may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the company's expectations with respect to its outlook and the future growth prospects and other information and statements that are not historical fact. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. These risks include those detailed in Liberty Global's filings within the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent filed forms 10-Q and 10-K, as amended. Liberty Global disclaims any obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or in the conditions on which such statement is based. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Mike Fries.

Michael Fries

Analyst

All right. Thanks, operator, and hello, everyone. We appreciate you joining our Q3 results call. We've got a lot to share today, and I'm sure you've got a lot of questions. Most of my senior team is on the call, and I'll get them involved in the Q&A as needed. So I'm going to kick it off right on Slide 4 with some key highlights from the quarter, which was solid in our view from an operational, financial and strategic perspective. First of all, we remain squarely focused on our 3 pillars of value creation that we outlined in our Q2 results call, and that focus is paying off. Of course, it begins with the transformation of our European platform into a handful of strong national fixed-mobile champions capable of delivering long-term and sustainable growth. And those FMC champions are bookended by our Ventures Portfolio on one side, which is highly strategic and growing in value, and our commitment to a levered equity model on the other side, supported by free cash flow per share and the growth and a predictable buyback plan. Operationally, we continue to experience strong commercial momentum across the group with third quarter broadband and postpaid mobile additions up sequentially from Q2. And after 5 months in the U.K. and 11 months in Switzerland, our newest converged businesses are firing on all cylinders. We're also feeling very positive about our current fixed network superiority and even better about our strategic opportunities for further expansion and upgrade of those networks. And then lastly, with just a couple of months to go in the fiscal year, we are upgrading our free cash flow guidance, all of which we'll talk about in the remarks that follow. So before moving on, I just want to add that we also remain…

Charles Bracken

Analyst

Thanks, Mike. I'm starting by highlighting our [Technical Difficulty] where we achieved stable to positive revenue growth across all markets and consolidated rebased revenue growth of 0.7%. This is encouraging given a more normalized third quarter from a COVID perspective. Walking through by operation, in the U.K. market in Q3, Virgin Media O2 saw positive revenue growth of 0.7% on an IFRS pro forma basis driven by increased activity as COVID impacts subsided. Breaking down the revenue mix of the U.K. joint venture, mobile revenue was broadly flat year-on-year with a 7.4% year-on-year increase in handset revenue fueled by an increased upgrade activity following mobile hardware launches from Samsung and Apple. This was offset by lower service revenue due to the continued impact of a change in the distribution channel mix. Consumer fixed revenue increased by 1% year-on-year supported by strong volumes despite a continued modest 2.1% year-on-year decline in fixed-line customer ARPU. B2B fixed revenue was affected by the phasing of installation activity for high-capacity data services within wholesale. In Belgium, Telenet delivered growth of 0.4% delivered by continued broadband and ARPU growth and remains well on track to deliver 1% revenue growth, in line with full year guidance. And Sunrise UPC saw revenues slow sequentially to flat in the third quarter year-on-year on a rebased basis predominantly driven by an increase in mobile service revenue, which was partly offset by less handset revenue and lower consumer fixed mainly from declining basic video subscribers as the market environment remained competitive. VodafoneZiggo continued on a trend of strong financial growth with total revenue up 1.9% driven by growth in mobile, B2B and stable trends in fixed revenue. This represented its tenth quarter of consecutive revenue growth. Moving to rebased adjusted EBITDA, the group returned to growth of 1% in Q3.…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. We will take our first question from Jeffrey Wlodarczak from Pivotal Research.

Jeffrey Wlodarczak

Analyst

I had a couple on the U.K. I wanted to focus on the continued strong U.K. data results. I mean that's, I think you said, 7 quarters in a row of positive growth in both sort of Lightning footprint and the rest. I assume most of that's related to the fact that you're offering 4x the speed of BT. Can you talk about the success you've had in upselling consumers to higher-priced, higher-speed packages? And then can you also talk about how you're doing in the 20% of your footprint that is overbuilt by fiber-to-the-home for BT?

Michael Fries

Analyst

Sure. Look -- by the way, we're pretty convinced that, that strange sound we're getting is BT plugging into our call every time we talk about the U.K. So [indiscernible], Jeff. There it is. Lutz, do you want to take those 2? Lutz Schüler: Yes. So we don't really see any material impact from the fiber overbuild from Openreach yet. Obviously, we measure that carefully, but we don't see that. Our fixed broadband churn is on an all-time low. And so, so far, so good for ourselves. But obviously, we do everything to keep our customers happier and happier. And right, I mean, a couple of drivers here, yes? So now with O2, 43% our customers are having fixed mobile from ourselves, and we know that this lowers the churn dramatically. And the -- as you said, the average speed at the moment is 202 mbit in the U.K. Our customers is 4x higher than the U.K. average. We -- and to cross and upsell into our base, we are only at the beginning, I have to say. So we are building the machine at the moment, collect the data from the customer, the usage, and have a dynamic product bundling based on our digital cross and upsell channel going forward. So I think watch that space. And so quick answer is no material impact yet and more opportunity on cross and upsell in the future. And churn is on an all-time low because of convergence and because also of substantially better service. We drove complaints down by 92%, and we are now where we want to be.

Operator

Operator

We will now take our next question from Maurice Patrick from Barclays.

Maurice Patrick

Analyst

Just your thoughts on pricing in the U.K. and general ARPU momentum in the U.K. I mean BT confirmed today they'll likely put through pricing in myCPI plus 4%. So that could be an 8% price increase from BT next year. Just your thoughts in terms of your desire to put through that sort of magnitude of price increase. And just linked to it, when you -- you've launched your VOLT tariff in the U.K., converged tariff. Often, the first thing that happens is existing customers take it, and they can be quite dilutive to ARPU. Just thoughts in terms of how dilutive do you think that'll be near term before it becomes accretive.

Michael Fries

Analyst

I'm not going to let Lutz answer the first question because we generally don't talk about our price increases in advance of announcing them to our customers. I will just say that historically, we have not used CPI as a measure. We've essentially just launched a fixed price increase that more or less approximates what our peers are doing. I'll leave it at that. Our mobile business does use CPI. But we're going to leave that for now. We're not going to put out any information around what we may or may not do. But history should be a good guide there. Do you want to reference the second question on VOLT, Lutz? Lutz Schüler: Yes. So the way we have structured VOLT is that when you migrate on to it being an existing customer, you get the next higher speed tier and you get the next higher data bundle. So therefore, the -- there's very little likelihood that customers will decrease the ARPU, yes? So we are not planning with that curve you're referring to. And we don't see that happening as we speak.

Operator

Operator

We will now take our next question from Akhil Dattani from JPMorgan.

Akhil Dattani

Analyst

It's a two-part question just linked to, Mike, your comments earlier on your fixed network structure and how it differs by market. I guess just starting with the U.K. I wonder if you could maybe elaborate on your thoughts around wholesale. You said you're evaluating options. I guess what I'm really trying to understand is where the wholesale in any way determines the future scale of Project Lightning. Or are those completely discrete decisions and what you do in terms of the future ambition to scale on Project Lightning are independent of wholesale? So just if you could kind of touch where you are on that thinking. And obviously, you might like to comment on any timing-related issues. And then the second bit is just a really quick one. It's obviously interesting that through ventures, you're going into Germany with InfraVia. Obviously, you know that market really well. Just very keen to understand your thoughts of why to go into Germany as a fiber player, what the key attractions are and whether you could go into other markets, too.

Michael Fries

Analyst

Sure. On the wholesale question in the U.K., I mean, there's nothing to update on at this point. And I'll just remind everybody that the decision to upgrade our existing HFC plant was not based upon any wholesale arrangement. So our view is it's accretive either way. But of course, if there were wholesale, that would be even more accretive. So it shouldn't be an overhang. It's only upside if we were to do something in wholesale on the existing footprint. An expansion of the network beyond the current footprint with additional fiber builds, perhaps that -- there we are still doing work, and we have not yet made the determination as to how fast or how far we would take that. That might be more dependent on a wholesale outcome. We're still doing the work, if you will. Lightning in and of itself, however, continues to roll along. So between 400,000, 500,000 homes. We might be a little more aggressive next year either way. So we're continuing to build out in a measured -- at a measured pace without wholesale. It could be something more dramatic. I think everybody on the call would appreciate that we would be looking at the financial implications of that kind of buildout. I mean we'd want to know there are additional revenue sources, partners, financing sources. So more work to be done there. Nothing to announce on the bigger expansion, and that, I think, more likely would come with a clearer announcement around where we are on wholesale. Charlie, you want to take the Ventures deal in Germany?

Charles Bracken

Analyst

I think that in terms of how we feel about Germany as a new opportunity, I think we definitely feel that we have a lot of scale, a lot of efficiencies from our core network builds across Europe, which make us a more attractive and a lower-cost builder of fiber in Germany than perhaps a stand-alone start. And I think we've got an interesting platform to start building, and we'll see how it goes.

Michael Fries

Analyst

Yes. A reminder that, that market has little to no fiber, and our objective is to look for areas where there's essentially no competition. So it's a very targeted, I'd say, small initiative to begin with, and we'll see how it unfolds.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

[Technical Difficulty] on the phone. Just a question from me. I missed it if it was, sorry. Charlie, I just wondered on Virgin O2. Obviously, you've announced the £300 million dividend next year. It looks like a relatively conservative payment, although that's fair. What do you think is a right number for next year for us to think about dividends from Virgin O2? And I'm asking about the future, but it'd be helpful to get a sense whether the £300 million is representative of a normalized run rate.

Charles Bracken

Analyst

Well, look, I think it's a bit early for us to give guidance about next year, so I'm going to pass on that. But as a general principle, as you know, our intention with our partners is to leverage the JV to 5x. And given what I would expect we'd all agree is possibly some pretty significant EBITDA growth as the synergies come through, that would obviously allow us to recap and distribute capital or reinvest it back in the core business. The other kind of aspect of the phasing of the underlying free cash flow will be how fast we accelerate the cost to capture, which I think, from a Liberty point of view, we think, is a good thing to -- let's get these synergies as soon as possible, but they do cost money to get there, and also our pace on the absolute network buildout, how quickly we accelerate, et cetera. So probably 2 ways to give some definitive guidance. But in terms of distributions from Virgin Media 02, there are a lot of levers. I mean I think we can expect some pretty healthy distributions to Liberty Global over the upcoming years.

Polo Tang

Analyst

It's Polo Tang from UBS here. Can you hear me?

Michael Fries

Analyst

We got you, Polo.

Polo Tang

Analyst

Okay, great. I just have one question on Switzerland for André. So Swisscom are pausing their FTTH rollout as well as their partnership with Salt just given the ruling by the competition commission. So how do you think this will impact the Swiss market but also Sunrise UPC?

Michael Fries

Analyst

André, you want to take that? You might be on mute, André. André Krause: Actually -- can you hear me?

Michael Fries

Analyst

Yes, we have you now. André Krause: All right. Oh, okay. Sorry. Yes, thanks for the question, Polo. Yes, indeed, the competition commission and also the latest court decision is confirming that Swisscom has to rethink their approach to the point -- the multipoint rollout that they have been starting and on which back Salt is also building their network. So at the moment, I would say, therefore, the overbuild of our network is paused. And as such, our window of opportunity to sell our 1-gig lines in that footprint that is not overbuilt yet is probably better. We would not expect that to last forever. But of course, it's an increased window of opportunity for us to monetize our infrastructure faster and better.

Operator

Operator

We will now move to our next question from Mike Lyall from SocGen.

Nick Lyall

Analyst

I just got a click, so I think. It's Nick at SocGen. Just a quick question, Mike, on Fluvius, please. Just what do you -- could you just run us through your thoughts on why you think there's been a bit of a negative reaction to the Telenet-Fluvius deal so far? I mean do you think it's a bit unfair to talk about being more complicated in what already is a complicated Liberty Global asset as being an issue and a potential for future inflation? And how are you taking that into account when you're looking at all of the assets you're talking about as TBD? I think there's 3 assets on Slide 8 where you talk about the potential for NetCos, Mike.

Michael Fries

Analyst

Yes. Thanks, Nick. Listen, I think, as I said, John did a nice job of summarizing where Telenet is on the Fluvius deal. I'll repeat, we think it's fundamentally an accretive transaction. I think the market is probably waiting for final terms and perhaps was wondering why a nonbinding deal was announced before it was binding and final. That could be one issue with the overhang there. I think they're also understandably waiting for more information about financial implications, if any. What the partners have said quite clearly is this will be an independent, self-funding NetCo that will surely attract interest from both in-market partners and financial partners given the fact that it's going to start live with something like 60% or 70% utilization. Remind you that most alt nets begin with 0 utilization. So whenever you have an existing company like Telenet looking or willing to create a NetCo structure, it gets infrastructure investors licking their chops, as they say. It's usually extremely attractive to them and, I think, from a cost point of view, very attractive to the NetCo itself. So I think it's going to be a positive outcome for Telenet. I think it's the right decision over the long term for Flanders. I think perhaps related to that, there's questions around the Voo transaction and other things that will need to get long -- sorted out over the long term for Telenet. But we're generally positive on that business. I think John is doing a great job driving growth in a mature market where he has the largest market share in pretty much every product. And I think the management team is up for this type of transformation and iteration, if you will, in their operating structure and growth plan. And no, I can't speak to where the stock should or should be or why it's trading where it is except that we're positive about it. We think it's the right decision for them. And I think people are looking for more certainty and more clarity, and that's normal. So you might have a little overhang why these things get sorted out, but we obviously are on the inside, so we have a bit more data than you, and we feel pretty positive about the direction of travel.

Nick Lyall

Analyst

Nice. And can you just mention maybe on Slide 8 as well on VodafoneZiggo when you talk about the potential to wholesale as well? Is there any update on the ACM's position in some of the language that you're hearing from them? Is there anything in that sort of ACM investigation that is geared towards that? Or was it a purely Liberty decision?

Michael Fries

Analyst

No. Yes, that's got nothing to do with ACM. That's more trying to be responsive to the market's questions around NetCo/ServCo's voluntary front foot type of restructures. That's got nothing to do with the ACM. And because -- it says TBD because we're still discussing with our partners and the management team what the right long-term structure might be in that market. In the meantime, VodafoneZiggo is in a great position. I mentioned in my remarks if you just go down every single metric, they're outperforming KPN. I think they're doing pretty much everything as they should be doing. And we're looking more strategically at what over the next 5 years you might be considering around the network. But today, they're in great shape, and we're pretty positive on that business and that management team. It's got nothing to do with the regulatory picture.

Operator

Operator

And we'll take our next question from Ulrich Rathe from Jefferies.

Ulrich Rathe

Analyst

Question goes back to the footprint expansion in the U.K. You're sort of putting us on hold here again, and I'm wondering a little bit how you think about how much time you still have. BT is rapidly accelerating its fiber rollout to 4 million homes per year run rate. What are the hurdles? And who is ultimately looking at that? Is this a question of sort of decision-maker bandwidth in the -- in this sort of post-merger situation? Or what makes this such a complicated decision given that you've been talking about it for some time already?

Michael Fries

Analyst

Well, that's -- it's not a complicated decision. It's an important decision. But I do believe, as I said earlier, there are a few moving parts in that decision. So it's a large capital commitment that would require us to feel comfortable with sources of capital and essentially the build structure and all the other factors we've discussed, wholesale, et cetera. So it's not a decision we take lightly. So those who are thinking that, wow, we're just trundling into this fiber experiment and CapEx be damned, well, it's quite the opposite. We and Telefonica are highly focused on what we should be focused on, which is generating free cash flow and dividends to the parents. So we want to be thoughtful and we want to be careful about any decision that impacts CapEx and capital intensity. That's what you want us to do, and that's what we're doing. Having said that, so it needs to be an accretive move for us that's nothing but strategically beneficial and financially attractive. I said earlier that, that wholesale revenue could be a very important piece of that. It might also involve third-party financing or industrial partners. And those things don't happen quickly. So we'll figure out what that looks like. I'll simply say there should be no overhang on the stock from this type of decision. It's only upside. And we'll be smart about the decision when and if we get to that point. In the meantime, through our -- what we call mustang, our fiber overlay and through the synergies and all the great things that Lutz and his team are doing, the steady-state business is the one that we're most excited about. Any decision to move beyond where we are today, it's less a competitive issue. It's more of an opportunity issue. Virgin Media O2 does not need to expand its network to be competitive and successful. It could consider expanding its network if it created additional and incremental value to shareholders. Think about it that way. And we'll -- as soon as we have clarity on it, you'll certainly be first to know.

Operator

Operator

We will take our next question from James Ratcliffe from Evercore ISI.

James Ratcliffe

Analyst

Talk a little bit about the integration process. Cost to achieve has been pretty modest thus far in Switzerland and particularly in the U.K. And talk about what the ramp for those looks like. And do you have any sense of whether the estimates you put out there thus far are looking reasonable or conservative? And just also, if there are any supply chain- or process-related issues that could slow that down.

Michael Fries

Analyst

Yes, I'll just give a general answer and let these guys dive in. Cost to capture in both U.K. and Switzerland, we did report those figures, I think, 150 and 700, respectively, CH being a smaller number. And everything we're seeing is that we are on track. There will be variability in how quickly you achieve one thing or another or spend capital, but it's a pretty quick period, like a pretty short period of time to that cost to capture is in front of us and more or less on track. Do you guys want to address that as well as supply chain issue and if you're seeing any issues on that. Go ahead, André. Lutz Schüler: Yes. Yes, I mean, I start for the U.K. So, I mean, obviously, there are supply chain issues, but -- out there. But so far, we are managing them very well, right? You don't see any impact in our numbers, and we don't foresee any huge impact. The biggest synergies we have in front of us are 4 things, right? One is simply, right, convergence. And we have VOLT out there and -- but great start, and you will see us ramping that. Second, obviously we will migrate, right, Virgin Media customers onto the O2 network over time. And so we obviously invest into our mobile network in terms of capacity to -- might have the according capacity. Number three is people synergies, and we are 100% on plan. And yes, they're right, the cost to capture are the restructuring costs, as planned. And the last one are -- so your chunk of procurement synergies. So we are really, as Mike said, on plan. Very good line of sight for the and less dependent on supply chain than you would maybe expect.

Michael Fries

Analyst

André, anything to add there? Okay. André Krause: Can you hear me?

Operator

Operator

We can hear you. André Krause: Okay. Thanks. No, I just want to add in the case of Switzerland, we are also fully on track in terms of synergy capture. In terms of costs to get those synergies, the 2 heavy years will be '21 and '22 on almost similar levels, slightly increasing even in '22 but then coming down thereafter very fast. And again, it's driven by the synergies, and the shape of that is coming up as expected.

Operator

Operator

We will now move to Robert Grindle from Deutsche Bank.

Robert Grindle

Analyst

I'm worried I missed something important in Mike's opening comments as to why you have rolled out NetCos in Ireland and Switzerland but not in the U.K. and Netherlands. I think I'm not quite getting the nuance as to why it's a good idea in some markets but not others. And then very briefly, is there anything coming down the line on global tax which affects you guys? I think you are claiming back tax from the U.S. at present, but global tax rules are changing all the time.

Michael Fries

Analyst

Great. Listen, the difference is a few things. First of all, you have to look at the existence of a vibrant wholesale market to begin with. So if you're going to open up your network to third parties, you're going to want to see that there are a lot of third parties who might be interested in accessing your network. With only 3 operators in Switzerland, all 3 of whom utilize, to some extent, Swisscom's network, including us, and then having our own network, we just don't see that as being a particularly robust option. So it has, as much as anything, to do with market structure, and Switzerland would be a good example of that where just the market structure isn't obvious that a wholesale network opportunity is particularly viable. The U.K. and Ireland, obviously quite different, right? The U.K., I think somewhere on the order of 50% of broadband subs are using somebody else's network. In Belgium, of course, Telenet today provides access to Orange, and Orange has quite a few customers, I can't give you the number, they'll give you the number, using the Telenet network, and the expectation is that they will continue to use that network. So as much as anything, Robert, it has to do with market structure, not so much whether the network is X, Y or Z or where you -- what your competitive position is in the marketplace. It has to do with the -- essentially the viability of a wholesale market to begin with. I hope that helps. And then Charlie, do you want to talk about the second question?

Charles Bracken

Analyst

Yes. I think on tax, clearly tax is always an evolving environment. And you're quite right that there's increasing rules around transfer pricing, which is what multinationals often use to what they call shift basis. And there's obviously a bunch of reforms pending in the United States. Look, broadly speaking on transfer pricing, we've always been working on an arms-length basis, and the new rules, we don't think, will have any impact on us. So as you were. In the U.S., depending on what goes through the House at the end of the year and/or where the Biden reforms comes out, there could be some impact. But I just think it's too early for us to give you definitive guidance on that. Let's just see what the numbers are and what it comes out at. But do remember that we are largely out of the U.S. in that kind of concept of GILTI. So the kind of the future U.S. tax laws are already really much baked into our numbers. So we'll have to give you an update when the U.S. reforms go through. But yes, so far, I think we are as you were.

Michael Fries

Analyst

I also think that, that global 15% rate won't impact us in any market other than perhaps Ireland, which is relatively small, so -- since we're already above that rate in most of our markets, so.

Operator

Operator

We're going to take our last question -- we will take our next question from Steve Malcolm from Redburn.

Stephen Malcolm

Analyst

Just a question on -- coming back to sort of U.K. network. Your build rate in the U.K. slowed quite a bit in Q3. I think it's only 67,000. You're you seem sort of well behind the 400,000 that we talked about previously. Maybe just give us some color on why that was. Was it -- are you kind of holding back as you finalize the overall expansion plans? Is it something to do with supply issues, post Brexit, some of the inflationary pressures? Anything on that would be great. And also, just going back to the expansion, I mean, of the many options you're considering, should we completely rule out you funding that expansion entirely on your own? Would you absolutely want to bring in partners, whether a financial, industrial, whatever that might be? Just throw that into the mix of the options that you're looking at. It would be great.

Michael Fries

Analyst

Yes, I'll take the second question. Lutz, you can answer the first question, which is pretty straightforward. I think it's safe to say that we and Telefonica would not be excited about funding a 7 million-home expansion "on our own," meaning putting up all the equity capital with no line of sight to either third-party financing and/or wholesale. It's a pretty big ticket, and that's not necessarily something we're focused on. On the other hand, I would add that there is quite a bit of infrastructure money searching for deals like this. There are industrial partners in-country who might be interested in something like that. And certainly, you'll be able to put quite a bit of leverage on a business model such as that. So even if it were something we were to look at, and I think that'd be highly unlikely, the check isn't the 7 million times a big number. So -- but I think your instinct is correct, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to clarify that. And my -- one of the reasons it's taking a bit of time is we're not -- it's not a simple decision you just roll into and you fully bank on your own. We want to be thoughtful and creative about ensuring maximum return on capital to you, shareholders. And so that's how we operate in every instance, and that's certainly how we would operate in this instance. Lutz, you want to address the Lightning question? Lutz Schüler: Yes. Yes, your observation is right, Steve. We have been a bit light. The reason for that is not that we want to go slower. It's a bit after the pandemic to get resources in place, right? I mean some of our vendors had a bit challenge to get resource back from Europe. A bit of fiber shortage, right, when you refer to the supply chain issues. So a bit small term -- short-term tactical stuff. But we want to stick to broadly the same rollout than we did the year before. So you hopefully will see a ramp at Q4.

Stephen Malcolm

Analyst

Okay. And do you think these are issues affecting the entire industry? I mean if one looks at the combined build plans of U.K. fiber builders, I think they'll probably build most of China within the next 6 months, but that's clearly not happening. I mean is that an industry-wide problem today? Lutz Schüler: Yes. I think it's an industry-wide problem. And you can also see that contractors are getting offers from competitors, right, with higher prices. Now what we have to offer is a long-term relationship, right? So we built with our partners already 2.6 million homes. We -- as Mike said, we have also a ramp to do something -- a bit more next year. And so we have ensured the resources. But on the way how to get there, we had a little bit of issues in Q3. One of the partners went into administration, stuff like that. But we just -- for us, not really a big, strategic problem. But your observation is right. If you don't -- if you cannot offer a long-term partnership and a long-term perspective, then it is getting difficult.

Michael Fries

Analyst

Okay, it looks like no more questions on the line. Appreciate everybody joining. Sorry for the late start. We had a few technical issues on our end, too. But then, I'll just repeat a few of the things that I've already spoken about and I think others reemphasized on my behalf. One is, our FMC champions are essentially progressing exactly as we hoped they would, riding some tailwinds that are both secular as well as, in the case of U.K. and Switzerland, important synergy execution, which will drive significant growth over the next several years. I think we've also got good strategic options in every one of those markets, I talked about one of those, around networks today. Just want to reemphasize and be sure you understand we're making smart capital allocation decisions, one that allow us to continue to project out good, strong long-term free cash flow. And then finally, I would say if -- the number perhaps I'll just leave you with is the free cash flow per share guidance for 2021 of about 40-plus percent growth in a free cash flow per share figure. We think our ability to both derive free cash flow from our operating companies and through dividends and other means is essentially solid and will be a huge part of our growth story going forward. And our willingness to reduce shares by a fixed amount, 10% of the shares outstanding each year in the next 2 years, should also be a really important catalyst. So free cash flow per share, we're ahead of that, and we look forward to updating you on the fourth quarter and speak to everybody soon. Thanks so much.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes Liberty Global's Third Quarter 2021 Investor Call. As a reminder, a replay of the call will be available in the Investor Relations section of Liberty Global's website. There, you can also find a copy of today's presentation materials.