Cable And Telecom Firm VodafoneZiggo Outlook Revised To Negative On Rising Debt And Dividends; Affirmed At 'BB-'

We expect that VodafoneZiggo's further reliance on vendor financing for operational and capital expenditures and increasing shareholder returns will keep adjusted leverage above 6x. Although we believe VodafoneZiggo is likely to show operational resilience, a challenging competitive and regulatory environment and the high vendor financing could offset the joint venture's expected cost synergies. We continue to anticipate a moderate degree of support to VodafoneZiggo from parents Liberty Global and Vodafone. We are therefore revising our outlook on VodafoneZiggo to negative from stable and affirming our 'BB-' rating. The negative outlook reflects a possible downgrade over the next 12 months if VodafoneZiggo does not make progress in reducing adjusted leverage to 6x or generate positive cash flows, in line with our

...+ We expect that VodafoneZiggo's further reliance on vendor financing for operational and capital expenditures and increasing shareholder returns will keep adjusted leverage above 6x. + Although we believe VodafoneZiggo is likely to show operational resilience, a challenging competitive and regulatory environment and the high vendor financing could offset the joint venture's expected cost synergies. + We continue to anticipate a moderate degree of support to VodafoneZiggo from parents Liberty Global and Vodafone. + We are therefore revising our outlook on VodafoneZiggo to negative from stable and affirming our '##-' rating. + The negative outlook reflects a possible downgrade over the next 12 months if VodafoneZiggo does not make progress in reducing adjusted leverage to 6x or generate positive cash flows, in line with our base case of free operating cash flow to debt of above 6% in 2017-2018. PARIS (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 31, 2018--S&P Global Ratings today revised its outlook on Dutch...

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