Chorus Limited

For HY '26, Chorus reported revenue of $506 million, up a net $6 million year on year; EBITDA was $357 million, up $11 million; and net profit after tax was $15 million versus a loss of $5 million in HY '25. Fibre revenues increased 7% or $26 million, helped by 31,000 additional fibre lines and an approximate 4% increase in ARPU to $57.73. Copper broadband, voice and data revenues fell $18 million, or 43%, as copper connections declined by 60,000. Operating expenses were $149 million, down $5 million or 3%, depreciation and amortization was $216 million, down $19 million, and gross CapEx was $158 million, including $79 million sustaining CapEx. Net debt was $3.2 billion and operating cash flow was pro forma $257 million. For FY '26, EBITDA guidance remains $710 million to $730 million, now expected in the upper half; CapEx guidance remains $375 million to $415 million, now expected in the lower half; sustaining CapEx guidance remains $195 million to $215 million, also expected in the lower half. Full-year dividend guidance remains $0.60 unimputed, and the interim dividend is $0.24 unimputed.

Mark Aue said the first half showed Chorus remains resilient despite a still-lumpy economy, with fibre continuing to outperform and the business now shifting into Horizon 2 around growth, simplicity and efficiency. He emphasized stronger fibre awareness, rising usage, accelerating copper retirement, and a more disciplined approach to new infrastructure opportunities, especially those with natural adjacency to the core business. His tone was constructive and confident, especially around the 80% fibre uptake aspiration and the company’s ability to create new growth pools through brownfields infill, copper recycling, and selected infrastructure adjacencies.

Drew Davies focused on the financial bridge from fibre growth and cost control. He cited $506 million of revenue, $357 million of EBITDA, $149 million of operating expenses, $216 million of D&A, and $15 million of net profit after tax, noting fibre revenue rose 7% while copper revenue declined 43%. He also highlighted $158 million of gross CapEx, $3.2 billion of net debt, a weighted average interest rate down from 5.7% to 4.9%, and pro forma operating cash flow of $257 million, while reiterating that FY '26 EBITDA should land in the upper half of guidance and CapEx in the lower half. On capital management, he said Moody’s leverage threshold remains 5.25x and that Chorus is around 4.8x on that measure, while S&P could move to about 6x net debt to EBITDA if NIFFCo equity is treated as debt, still below S&P’s current 7x down driver.

Analysts pressed on why FY '26 EBITDA guidance was moving to the top half despite a still-weak economy; management pointed to stronger January connections, stabilizing churn and downgrades, and better mix from the 100-megabit plan plus targeted retailer incentives rather than a broad macro recovery. Questions on OpEx, leverage methodology, and NIFFCo focused on whether cost growth would stay contained and whether S&P could reclassify the Crown securities as debt; management said cost discipline is holding, Moody’s is unchanged, and S&P headroom still remains under either NIFFCo outcome. Other questions covered infrastructure revenue targets, brownfields infill strategy, Starlink competition, and regulatory timing; management said infrastructure revenue is still around similar levels, brownfields will be assessed with more data and targeted execution, Starlink is mainly a non-fibre/rural alternative, and they hope for copper-related regulatory decisions by Q3/calendar year end.