iesy Repository GmbH - Irish Stock Exchange
iesy Repository GmbH - Irish Stock Exchange
iesy Repository GmbH - Irish Stock Exchange
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
populations, with approximately 2.7 million foreign inhabitants, representing approximately 11.0% of the total population<br />
and an attractive target market for our foreign and English language programming packages.<br />
Established customer base generating stable cash flow. A large proportion of our residential customers pay via<br />
direct debit, and many of our housing association customers pay pursuant to multi-year contracts. These characteristics have<br />
historically helped reduce our churn rates and are indicators of a stable subscriber base with reliable revenues, which when<br />
combined with our relatively predictable cost base, have led to strong and stable operating cash flow. In addition, our billing<br />
policies contribute to our strong cash flow. We collect a significant proportion of our subscription fees on an annual basis in<br />
advance. This billing and collection system provides us with significant cash inflows in the first and fourth quarters of the<br />
year.<br />
Growth opportunities. Our attractive market demographics and high quality network offer growth opportunities for<br />
new products and services. We believe that we have the opportunity to win new customers and to sell additional products to<br />
existing customers by introducing premium cable television, high speed Internet services and telephony in our upgraded<br />
areas. We intend to introduce ish products in Hesse, and <strong>iesy</strong> products in North Rhine-Westphalia, as appropriate. In addition,<br />
we plan to expand our premium cable television offerings and to market our high speed Internet services more aggressively.<br />
Modern network with ability to deliver premium services. With over 1.5 million upgraded homes, <strong>iesy</strong> and ish have<br />
the largest number of homes upgraded to receive high speed Internet and telephony of the Level 3 operators in Germany. By<br />
the end of 2005, the Kerpen NOC should technically be able to provide premium cable television signals to the vast majority<br />
of homes connected to our network. This should allow us to reduce our reliance on MSG for certain services associated with<br />
distributing our television programs. Based upon current network usage, we have the ability to deliver additional television<br />
program streams without any significant network upgrades.<br />
Flexible capital expenditures. The capital expenditure requirements for maintaining our network and providing<br />
existing products and services are relatively low. Capital expenditures requirements for premium cable television services are<br />
limited, because our state-of-the-art NOC will have the capacity to provide premium cable television signals throughout the<br />
vast majority of our network by the end of 2005. Investments required for high speed Internet services are modular and can<br />
be based on the level of customer demand. Incremental capital expenditures, such as the upgrade of housing association<br />
Level 4 networks or the introduction of a new product, are designed to ensure that our return on investment thresholds are<br />
met.<br />
Proven management team. Our management team has significant experience in the German, European and U.S.<br />
cable television industries. Members of our management team have held positions at leading cable operators, including<br />
Telewest Communications, Liberty Media International and ntl. The management team mixes international cable experience<br />
with strong local expertise. We believe the combination of the <strong>iesy</strong> and ish management teams will benefit the combined<br />
entity with the sharing of best practices, cost reduction strategies and product development experiences.<br />
Our Strategies<br />
We aim to build on our existing subscriber base and improve cash flows through the following strategies:<br />
Enhancing customer satisfaction across all segments. We seek to enhance customer satisfaction through product<br />
innovation and service excellence. The key to this is segmentation, because a distinguishing feature of the German cable<br />
market is the need to address both business and consumer needs. We have therefore organized our business around a detailed<br />
segmentation of our customer base. Our strategic initiatives, investment decisions and product development are led by the<br />
demand of specific customer segments. Our specialized sales forces use tailored marketing techniques to address the needs of<br />
our customers within their specific segments. Our customer management and care operations as well are designed to handle<br />
the different needs of our particular customers. For example, we have a unit within our sales force and customer care function<br />
that caters to the needs of Level 4 operators and large housing associations.<br />
Introducing new services for existing customers and winning new customers. We intend to continue to enhance the<br />
value of our products and to develop our high value customer base, rather than increasing our subscriber base at any cost. We<br />
will introduce and market new services, such as an expanded premium cable television offering and high speed Internet<br />
access, as we see sufficient customer demand and willingness to pay for these new services. We also intend to introduce <strong>iesy</strong><br />
services in North Rhine-Westphalia, and ish services in Hesse. We believe these services will assist our efforts to retain<br />
customers against competition from satellite and new technologies. No significant capital expenditures should be required to<br />
offer expanded premium television services. High speed Internet access and telephony services can be offered without<br />
substantial additional capital expenditures in places where our network and the local connections to our network are already<br />
upgraded.<br />
152