Superloop (ASX:SLC) reported a strong start to fiscal 2026, pointing to broad-based revenue growth, expanding margins, and improved profitability in its first-half investor briefing. Chief Executive Officer Paul Tyler and CFO Dean Tognella also detailed a planned acquisition of Lightning Broadband, which management said would accelerate Superloop’s “smart communities” strategy and expand exposure to high-margin, annuity-style wholesale infrastructure revenues.
First-half financial performance
For the first half of FY2026, Superloop reported revenue of AUD 317.6 million, up 23% year-on-year. Underlying EBITDA rose 46% to AUD 55.8 million, which management attributed to operating leverage as the business scaled. The company recorded net profit after tax of AUD 5.1 million, described as a AUD 12.9 million improvement from the prior year.
Customer growth, market share, and segment trends
Superloop ended the half with 805,000 customers, up 21% year-on-year, including 74,000 net customer additions during the period, which management said were “almost all organic.” Tyler said the company’s NBN market share increased to 7%, and that Superloop captured 14.5% of NBN orders in the first half of FY2026.
Growth was reported across all three operating segments:
- Consumer: Revenue increased 29% year-on-year, and the business added 49,000 net new customers, which Tyler described as the strongest organic result the company has achieved. Tognella said the company held consumer gross margin at 27.5% despite what management called “industry pricing resets.”
- Wholesale: Revenue grew 28%. “Margin customer” numbers increased to 258,000, up about 20,000 in the half, with 15,000 of those additions in the final seven weeks of the period. Tognella said wholesale gross margin percentage increased 5.6 points to 65.9%, citing product mix and the end of modem pass-through revenue for a wholesale customer.
- Business: Revenue increased 4% to AUD 54.3 million. Management highlighted new logos signed including My Car Tyre and Auto, ARB, Coles, and Village Roadshow. Gross margin percentage improved 2.1% to 41.9%, which management attributed to mix, including smart communities and secure connectivity traction.
Tyler emphasized that while consumer drives scale, wholesale and business are structurally higher margin and improve “resilience and sustainability” of earnings over time. He also said the company expects continued consumer momentum and stronger second-half seasonality in wholesale.
Costs, automation, and marketing
Tognella said gross margin increased by AUD 23.9 million to AUD 111.9 million, while operating expenses increased by AUD 8.6 million year-on-year. He noted that AUD 5.1 million of the OpEx increase came from higher marketing spend, which management said helped drive customer acquisition and improve brand awareness metrics. OpEx as a percentage of revenue declined to 13.4% from 15.4% in the prior-year period, and total employee expenses were described as “essentially flat” despite growth.
Management repeatedly pointed to automation and AI as contributors to scalability and customer experience. Tyler said inbound support calls per customer decreased about 30% over the last 18 months, as Superloop expanded self-service tools in its app and used AI agents (“Teddy” and “Mo”) to handle more customer interactions. He also said Superloop was reducing reliance on voice support, which he described as the most expensive channel.
On capital investment, Tognella said first-half CapEx totaled AUD 21 million, reflecting a heavier first half due to fiber and network investments. This included AUD 5.2 million for automation and AI platform investment and AUD 7.7 million for smart communities infrastructure and other customer-related growth opportunities.
Guidance upgrade and Lightning Broadband acquisition
Based on first-half performance and trading momentum, management upgraded full-year FY2026 underlying EBITDA guidance to AUD 112 million to AUD 120 million, which Tyler said represented approximately 21% to 30% growth on FY2025. Capital expenditure guidance was unchanged at AUD 32 million to AUD 35 million, excluding IRU, and management said the guidance did not assume any contribution from Lightning Broadband.
Superloop also announced it had entered a binding agreement to acquire 100% of Lightning Broadband, funded from existing cash and debt facilities. Tyler said the deal would make Superloop a “scaled national fiber-to-the-premises challenger” and increase exposure to high-margin wholesale infrastructure revenues tied to its smart communities strategy.
Management described Lightning as having 24,000 built FTTP lots and a contracted book of an additional 30,000 lots, expected to be built over the next five years. Lightning was described as operating an open access wholesale model through its infrastructure business (Lynham Networks) across more than 400 locations, alongside a retail service provider operation. Tyler said Lightning has around 54,000 contracted lots in total, across more than 400 developments, and during Q&A he referenced 14,000 active services “as of today.”
Financially, management said Lightning is expected to generate approximately AUD 11 million of EBITDA in FY2027 on a pre-synergy basis, and that the transaction is expected to be EPS accretive in FY2027. Superloop expects to realize around AUD 5 million of annualized synergies within the first three years, primarily from network integration and infrastructure efficiencies. Tognella said the synergies were based on the business “there today,” and would be additive to the FY2027 EBITDA expectation.
Completion is subject to customary regulatory approvals, and management said it expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter of the current financial year. The company said it refinanced in October, securing a new AUD 300 million four-year loan package with improved terms. Management said that post-completion, leverage is expected to remain modest, with a leverage ratio of approximately 1.4x.
In Q&A, Tyler said the acquisition would increase Superloop’s capital requirements by roughly AUD 8 million to AUD 10 million per annum “once we get into a run rates position,” linked to building out Lightning’s contracted lots, and reiterated that capital is deployed on successfully won projects.
Management also addressed competitive conditions in the NBN market, with Tyler saying market disruptions can be beneficial for Superloop’s share gains and emphasizing that the company’s product quality and brand preference are supporting growth even amid intense competition. The company also confirmed that AGL advised Superloop it no longer needs its services; Tyler said the contract represented about 4% on an annualized basis and that the outcome was not unexpected.
About Superloop (ASX:SLC)
Superloop Limited operates as a telecommunications and internet service provider in Australia. It operates through Consumer, Business, and Wholesale segments. The Consumer segment offers internet and mobile phone products for domestic residential use. The Business segment provides NBN TC2 and enterprise ethernet, internet access, dark fibre, fixed wireless access, third party access, mobile 4G, SD-WAN, security, VoIP, and managed Wifi. The Wholesale segment offers NBN access, NBN enterprise ethernet, internet access & IP transit, Australian intercapital capacity, dark fibre, fixed wireless access, international ethernet, and wavelength service.
