Turnover: 8.4 billion EUR (2022)
Country: France
Free is a French telecom company specializing in telephony and the Internet. Its two main activities are the provision of fixed telecoms services (51% of sales) via the Free and Alice brands, and mobile telecoms services (49% of sales). Free recently entered the Italian telecoms market, increasing its sales 4-fold between 2018 and 2019 in the country.
Free offers and distributes several video-on-demand services in its offering: Canal Play, Canal VOD, Frissons EXtremes, Filmo TV and even Netflix. Free also markets its own video-on-demand tool, Freebox Replay.
Free is a subsidiary of Iliad, a listed company whose main shareholder is Xavier Niel (71.2%).
april 28, 2021 - The different Freebox offers - source(UniversFreebox)
Among all Freebox subscribers in 2021, according to a Free survey:
- 46% of subscribers watch Netflix
- 46% use no SVOD service
- 37% use Amazon Prime Video
- 20% for Disney+
- 15% (Canal+Series) / 5% (OCS)
- Free offers several packages with more or less SVOD services
News
With five million fiber subscribers, Free responds to criticism from the regulator 18/07/2023
- Free has reached 5 million Internet subscribers via fiber, exceeding their initial target of 4.5 million subscribers planned for 2024.
- The number of Free's fiber subscribers has increased sevenfold in five years.
- Nearly 70% of Free's fixed-network subscribers prefer fiber to ADSL.
- Free Infrastructure serves just under 1% of the 33 million French households that have subscribed or could subscribe to fiber.
- SFR has 4.5 million fiber subscribers, Bouygues Telecom 3 million, and Orange leads the way with 7.46 million.
Will Free and SFR, part of the Altice group, be joining forces? Orange is considering a merger too! 18/11/2021
- Iliad (Free) and Altice (SFR) could move closer together, facilitated by their recent delisting.
- The French market is highly competitive, with Iliad (Free) initiating a price war almost 10 years ago.
Financial Data
DUNS: 421938861
Legal Name: FREE
Address: 8 RUE DE LA VILLE L'EVEQUE , 75008 PARIS
Number of employees: Entre 200 et 249 salariés (2021)
Capital: 3 441 812 EUR
Financial Data:
| Year | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turnover | 3 229 229 750 | 3 212 406 995 | 3 266 498 000 | 2 907 499 967 | 2 778 717 000 | 2 892 783 000 | 2 794 131 000 | 2 755 103 000 |
| Gross margin (€) | 3 363 974 120 | 3 379 463 889 | 3 423 731 000 | 2 941 412 464 | 2 876 518 000 | 2 987 219 000 | 2 930 332 000 | 2 878 714 000 |
| EBITDA (€) | 835 452 464 | 857 481 271 | 839 656 000 | 872 987 072 | 438 465 000 | 951 057 000 | 955 727 000 | 998 658 000 |
| Operating profit (€) | 245 910 458 | 321 680 512 | 392 876 000 | 177 551 200 | 440 926 000 | 951 897 000 | 524 983 000 | 562 502 000 |
| Net profit (€) | 44 131 889 | 222 998 218 | 322 777 000 | 58 873 629 | 289 235 000 | 302 431 000 | 358 795 000 | 343 385 000 |
| Turnover growth rate (%) | 0,5 | -1,7 | 12,3 | 4,6 | -3,9 | 3,5 | 1,4 | - |
| Ebitda margin rate (%) | 25,9 | 26,7 | 25,7 | 30 | 15,8 | 32,9 | 34,2 | 36,2 |
| Operating margin rate (%) | 7,6 | 10 | 12 | 6,1 | 15,9 | 32,9 | 18,8 | 20,4 |
| Working Capital (turnover days) | -56,3 | -53,5 | -58 | -58,5 | -67,1 | -62 | -58,2 | -56,4 |
| Working Capital requirements (turnover days) | -17,5 | -14,9 | -0,8 | -0,7 | -15,1 | -8,6 | -14,1 | -10,8 |
| Net margin (%) | 1,4 | 6,9 | 9,9 | 2 | 10,4 | 10,5 | 12,8 | 12,5 |
| Added value / Turnover (%) | 30,1 | 30,8 | 29,2 | 33,8 | 35,6 | 36,9 | 39,5 | 40,7 |
| Wages and social charges (€) | 21 593 799 | 16 002 525 | 15 999 000 | 14 971 939 | 13 278 000 | 11 221 000 | 10 156 000 | 8 554 000 |
| Salaries / Turnover (%) | 0,7 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 0,4 | 0,4 | 0,3 |
Company Managers:
| Position | First Name | Last Name | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Président | Nicolas, Hubert, Marie | Thomas | 42 |
Studies mentioning this company
The svod market - France
Other companies mentioned:
- Netflix
- Prime Vido (Amazon)
- Google Play
- Filmo TV
- VideoFutur
- Canal Plus Groupe (MyCanal)
- France Télévision
- Orange Groupe
- SFR (SFR Play)
- Free (Iliad)
- TF1 Groupe
- Apple TV
- M6 Groupe
The fibre optic market - France
Other companies mentioned:
- Prysmian Group
- Acome
- Silec Cable (groupe Prysmian)
- Orange Groupe
- SFR Business
- Bouygues Groupe
- Free (Iliad)
- Covage (Altitude groupe)
- Altitude Infra
- Axione
- Jenoptec
- Nordnet (Orange Groupe)
- Vialis
- Ozone
- Sewan
- Coriolis Telecom
- Adista - Inherent
- Netalis
- Celeste Telecom
- Keyyo
- K Net
- TDF Infrastructures
- Verre Fluoré
- Altitude Infra
- Deepomatic
- Ecouter Voir
The mobile operators market - France
Other companies mentioned:
- Orange Groupe
- Free (Iliad)
- Bouygues Telecom
- SFR
- La Poste