BellSouth Corp Affirmed by S&P Re:$1B Stk Buyback Prog.NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's CreditWire 9/25/97--Standard & Poor's today affirmed af·firm v. af·firmed, af·firm·ing, af·firms v.tr. 1. To declare positively or firmly; maintain to be true. 2. To support or uphold the validity of; confirm. v.intr. its triple-`A' corporate credit ratings on BellSouth Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. Bellsouth Telecommunications Communicating information, including data, text, pictures, voice and video over long distance. See communications. Inc. These affirmations follow BellSouth Corp.'s recent announcement of its plans to buy back up to $1 billion of its common stock through 1998. BellSouth Corp. has sufficient capacity to absorb this buyback Buyback The buying back of outstanding shares (repurchase) by a company in order to reduce the number of shares on the market. Companies will buyback shares either to increase the value of shares still available (reducing supply), or to eliminate any threats by shareholders who may program, as well as an approximate $1.6 billion-$1.7 billion capital requirement related to its interest in a Brazilian consortium that is building out two newly awarded cellular concessions in Sao Paulo Metro and Region 10 in Brazil. Substantial cash balances, coupled with continued strong core domestic telephone, cellular, and directory operating cash flows Operating cash flow Earnings before depreciation minus taxes. Measures the cash generated from operations, not counting capital spending or working capital requirements. , provide BellSouth Corp. sufficient ability to substantially cover overall cash requirements from internal sources. At June 30, 1997, the company had $1.3 billion of cash and has subsequently received an additional $1 billion in total from asset sales. Ratings for BellSouth Corp. and BellSouth Telecommunications reflect these companies' strong operating and financial profiles. OUTLOOK: STABLE The outlook reflects the expectation that the company's solid financial performance and the flexibility provided by BellSouth's extremely strong cash flow will offset increasing business risk in all areas of operations, Standard & Poor's said. -- CreditWire CONTACT: Catherine Cosentino, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of (1) 212-208-8198 For more information on criteria or subscriptions: http://www.ratings.standardpoor.com |
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