Printer Friendly
The Free Library
19,595,263 articles and books
Member login
User name  
Password 
 
Join us Forgot password?

Charter Reports First-Quarter Financial and Operating Results.


Quarterly Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) A metric used to show a company's profitability, but not its cash flow. EBITDA became popular in the 1980s to show the potential profitability of leveraged buyouts, but has become  Growth of 13.2% on a Pro Forma As a matter of form or for the sake of form. Used to describe accounting, financial, and other statements or conclusions based upon assumed or anticipated facts.

The phrase pro forma
 Basis, the Highest Increase in More Than Four Years

332,200 Quarterly Net RGU RGU The Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen, Scotland)
RGU Responsible Governmental Unit
RGU Revenue-Generating Unit
 Additions on a Pro Forma Basis, the Largest Increase in over Five Years

ST. LOUIS -- Charter Communications Charter Communications NASDAQ: CHTR is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 5.7 million customers in 29 states. It is the third-largest publicly traded cable operator in the U.S. , Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ
 in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations

U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on
: CHTR CHTR Charter
CHTR Canadian High Temperature Research
) (along with its subsidiaries, the "Company" or "Charter") today reported its first-quarter 2007 financial and operating results.

Highlights:

* First-quarter revenues of $1.425 billion grew 10.7% year over year on a pro forma basis and 8.0% on an actual basis, driven by strong telephone and high-speed Internet See broadband.  (HSI (Hue Saturation Intensity) A color space similar to HSB. See HSB. ) performance.

* First-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $496 million increased 13.2% year over year on a pro forma basis and 10.7% on an actual basis. (Adjusted EBITDA is defined in the "Use of Non-GAAP Financial Metrics metrics Managed care A popular term for standards by which the quality of a product, service, or outcome of a particular form of Pt management is evaluated. See TQM. " section and is reconciled to net cash flows from operating activities in the addendum addendum n. an addition to a completed written document. Most commonly this is a proposed change or explanation (such as a list of goods to be included) in a contract, or some point that has been subject of negotiation after the contract was originally proposed by  of this news release.)

* Revenue generating units (RGUs) increased by 332,200 on a pro forma basis during the first quarter of 2007, with higher customer growth in every category compared to first-quarter 2006.

* Average revenue per analog video The original video recording method that stores continuous waves of red, green and blue intensities. In analog video, the number of rows is fixed. There are no real columns, and the maximum detail is determined by the frequency response of the analog system.  customer (ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) A calculation often used to determine the overall value of an application. It is also used to rate particular customers, especially in the wireless space, by comparing someone's account to the overall average. ) increased 12.3% year over year, driven by increased sales of bundled packages, and advanced services growth.

"Charter continued to show strong momentum in the first quarter, generating the highest quarterly unit growth in over five years and delivering double-digit increases in revenues and adjusted EBITDA," said Neil Smit, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Disciplined and consistent execution drove improvements across the key operating metrics of our business. This is further evidence that we now have the people, the products, and the platform for success."

In addition to the actual results for the three months ended March 31, 2006 and 2007, we have provided in this release pro forma results for the three months ended March 31, 2006, and December 31, 2006. We believe these pro forma historical results facilitate meaningful comparison to actual results for the three months ended March 31, 2007. Pro forma results in this release reflect (i) our sales of assets in 2006, (ii) our acquisition in January 2006, and (iii) our sales of assets in early January 2007, as if they had occurred as of January 1, 2006. Pro forma income statements for the three months ended March 31, 2006, and pro forma customer statistics are provided in the addendum of this news release.

Key Operating Results

All the following customer growth and ARPU statistics are presented on a pro forma basis. Charter added a net 332,200 RGUs during the first quarter of 2007, with improved net additions in each of our customer categories, as compared to the first quarter of 2006.

* Telephone customers increased by approximately 126,800 in the first quarter of 2007, more than double the 55,100 net additions in the year-ago quarter.

* HSI customers increased by approximately 123,900, a nearly 20% increase over first-quarter 2006 net additions of 105,400.

* Digital video customers increased by approximately 65,000, a 15% increase compared to 56,500 net additions in the year-ago quarter.

* Analog video customers increased by approximately 16,500, compared to 10,300 in the first quarter of 2006.

As of March 31, 2007, Charter served approximately 5,716,300 customers, an increase of 21,600 during the first quarter. The Company's 11,376,800 RGUs were comprised of 5,415,400 analog video, 2,862,900 digital video, 2,525,900 HSI, and 572,600 telephone customers.

First quarter 2007 total ARPU increased 12.3%, with video ARPU increasing 5.2% and HSI ARPU increasing 7.4% , as compared to the same period in 2006.

Strong telephone service growth continued in the first quarter, with total customers increasing nearly 30% since December 31, 2006. Charter Telephone[R] was available to approximately 7.3 million homes, or 62% of Charter's footprint, as of March 31, 2007. During 2007, Charter will continue to focus on driving deeper penetration of telephone service and bundled service packages, while further expanding our telephone footprint.

First-Quarter Results

Actual First-Quarter 2007 Compared to Pro Forma First-Quarter 2006

First-quarter revenues were $1.425 billion, an increase of $138 million, or 10.7%, on a pro forma basis, resulting from increases in digital video, HSI, and telephone customers, and increases in average revenue per customer, versus prior year.

HSI revenues increased $55 million, up 22.8% year over year, and pro forma telephone revenues more than tripled to $63 million from $20 million. Video revenues increased $29 million, up 3.6% year over year on a pro forma basis. Commercial revenues increased $11 million, or 15.7%, on a pro forma basis, as we continued to deploy video, HSI, and telephone services to small and medium-sized businesses.

Revenues increased at a faster rate than operating costs operating costs nplgastos mpl operacionales  and expenses, reflecting increased operational efficiencies, improved clustering, and benefits from improved third-party contracts.

First-quarter 2007 operating costs and expenses were $929 million, an increase of $80 million, or 9.4%, on a pro forma basis. Our increased operating costs and expenses reflect annual programming rate increases, growth of the Company's telephone business and other advanced services, increased marketing expenditures to grow and retain customers, and efforts to further improve the customer experience.

Operating expenses Operating expenses

The amount paid for asset maintenance or the cost of doing business, excluding depreciation. Earnings are distributed after operating expenses are deducted.
, which include programming, advertising sales, and service costs, increased 7.7% year over year. Selling, general, and administrative expenses increased by 13.3% compared to the year-ago quarter, primarily resulting from increased marketing and customer care expenditures in the first quarter of 2007.

Adjusted EBITDA totaled $496 million for the first quarter of 2007, an increase of 13.2% compared with the year-ago quarter on a pro forma basis.

Net cash flows from operating activities for the first quarter of 2007 were $266 million, compared to $186 million on a pro forma basis for the year-ago quarter. The increase is primarily the result of the increase in Adjusted EBITDA and the change in operating assets Operating Assets

Another term for working capital.
 and liabilities, offset by an increase in interest on cash pay obligations.

Actual First-Quarter 2007 Compared to Actual First-Quarter 2006

First-quarter revenues increased 8.0% and operating costs and expenses increased 6.5% compared to year-ago actual results. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $496 million for the first quarter of 2007, an increase of 10.7% on an actual basis.

Operating income Operating Income

The profit realized from a business' own operations.

Notes:
This would not include income from things such as investments in other firms. Also referred to as operating profit or recurring profit.
 from continuing operations continuing operations

Parts of a business that are expected to be maintained as an ongoing segment of an overall business operation. Income and losses from continuing operations are reported separately if any segments have been discontinued during the
 increased by $164 million year over year to $156 million for the first quarter of 2007. Revenue growth exceeded operating costs and expense growth during the period by $48 million, and depreciation and amortization expenses declined by $19 million year over year. In addition, asset impairment Impairment

1. A reduction in a company's stated capital.

2. The total capital that is less than the par value of the company's capital stock.

Notes:
1. This is usually reduced because of poorly estimated losses or gains.

2.
 charges of $99 million were recorded in the first quarter of 2006, while there was no such charge in the first quarter of 2007.

Net loss and loss per common share for the first quarter of 2007 were $381 million and $1.04, respectively. For the first quarter of 2006, Charter reported a net loss of $459 million and loss per common share of $1.45. Net loss decreased $78 million due to telephone and HSI customer growth, improved operational efficiencies, a $99 million impairment charge recorded in 2006, which did not recur in 2007, and the decrease in depreciation and amortization, partially offset by an increase in income tax expense in 2007.

Net cash flows from operating activities for the first quarter of 2007 were $266 million, compared to $209 million for the year-ago quarter. The variance is primarily the result of the increase in adjusted EBITDA and the change in operating assets and liabilities, offset by an increase in interest on cash pay obligations.

Expenditures for property, plant, and equipment for the first quarter of 2007 were $298 million, compared to first-quarter 2006 expenditures of $241 million. The increase in capital expenditures primarily reflects year-over-year increases in success-based spending for customer premise equipment and scalable infrastructure supporting the growth of our telephone product and other advanced services. Charter expects that approximately three-quarters of its projected $1.2 billion of 2007 capital expenditures will be directed toward success-based activity.

As of March 31, 2007, Charter had $19.3 billion in long-term debt Long-Term Debt

Loans and financial obligations lasting over one year.

Notes:
For example debts obligations such as bonds and notes which have maturities greater than one year would be considered long-term debt.
 and $205 million of cash on hand, of which $110 million was held by the trustee and restricted for payment of bonds due April 1, 2007. Charter expects that cash on hand, cash flows from operating activities, and amounts available under our credit facilities credit facilities nplfacilidades fpl de crédito

credit facilities nplfacilités fpl de paiement

credit facilities 
, will be adequate to meet our cash needs through 2008.

Financing Transactions

In March and April 2007, the Company's subsidiary, Charter Communications Operating, LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol.

LLC - Logical Link Control
 (Charter Operating) closed on a new $1.5 billion revolving credit Revolving Credit

A line of credit where the customer pays a commitment fee and is then allowed to use the funds when they are needed. It is usually used for operating purposes, fluctuating each month depending on the customers current cash flow needs.
 facility, a new $1.5 billion term facility, and the refinancing Refinancing

An extension and/or increase in amount of existing debt.
 of the $5.0 billion term loan, each with interest rates of LIBOR LIBOR

See: London Interbank Offered Rate


LIBOR

See London interbank offered rate (LIBOR).
 plus 2.0%. In March 2007, CCO (Chief or Corporate Compliance Officer) The executive person in charge of compliance issues, regulatory requirements, internal controls and managing audits within an enterprise or organization.  Holdings, LLC (CCO Holdings) closed on a new $350 million third-lien term loan with an interest rate of LIBOR plus 2.5%.

This $8.35 billion of new senior secured credit facilities refinanced the previous $6.85 billion senior secured credit facilities at Charter Operating in addition to securities at various other Charter subsidiaries, including (i) certain notes outstanding at Charter Communications Holdings, LLC ("Charter Holdings") through a $100 million tender offer; (ii) $550 million of CCO Holdings' Senior Floating Rate Notes due 2010; (iii) Charter Holdings' $187 million aggregate principal amount 8.625% Senior Notes due 2009; and (iv) Charter Holdings' $105 million aggregate principal amount of 8.250% Senior Notes due 2007.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Metrics

The Company uses certain measures that are not defined by GAAP GAAP

See: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles


GAAP

See generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
 to evaluate various aspects of its business. Adjusted EBITDA, pro forma adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow are non-GAAP financial measures and should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, net cash flows from operating activities reported in accordance Accordance is Bible Study Software for Macintosh developed by OakTree Software, Inc.[]

As well as a standalone program, it is the base software packaged by Zondervan in their Bible Study suites for Macintosh.
 with GAAP. These terms, as defined by Charter, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as income from operations before special charges, depreciation and amortization, loss on sale or retirement of assets, asset impairment charges, and stock compensation expense. As such, it eliminates the significant non-cash depreciation and amortization expense that results from the capital-intensive nature of the Company's businesses as well as other non-cash or non-recurring items, and is unaffected by the Company's capital structure or investment activities. Adjusted EBITDA and pro forma adjusted EBITDA are liquidity measures used by Company management and its Board of Directors to measure the Company's ability to fund operations and its financing obligations. For this reason, it is a significant component of Charter's annual incentive compensation program. However, this measure is limited in that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain capitalized tangible and intangible assets Intangible Asset

An asset that is not physical in nature.

Notes:
Examples are things like copyrights, patents, intellectual property, and goodwill. These are the opposite of tangible assets.
 used in generating revenues and the cash cost of financing for the Company. Company management evaluates these costs through other financial measures.

Free cash flow is defined as net cash flows from operating activities, less capital expenditures and changes in accrued expenses Accrued Expense

An accounting expense recognized in the books before it is paid for. It is a liability, usually current. These expenses are typically periodic and documented upon a company's balance sheet due to the high probability of collection.
 related to capital expenditures.

The Company believes that adjusted EBITDA, pro forma adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow provide information useful to investors in assessing Charter's ability to service its debt, fund operations, and make additional investments with internally generated funds. In addition, adjusted EBITDA generally correlates to the leverage ratio calculation under the Company's credit facilities or outstanding notes to determine compliance with the covenants contained in the facilities and notes (all such documents have been previously filed with the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area.  Securities and Exchange Commission). Adjusted EBITDA and pro forma adjusted EBITDA, as presented, are reduced for management fees in the amounts of $32 million and $33 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively, which amounts are added back for the purposes of calculating compliance with leverage covenants.

Additional Information Available on Website

A slide presentation to accompany the first-quarter conference call will be available on the Investor & News Center of our website at www.charter.com in the "Presentations/Webcasts" section. Pro forma data, including disclosure concerning the pro forma data and the basis upon which it was calculated, for each quarter of 2006 can also be found on the Investor & News Center in the "Pro Forma Information" section. The pro forma income statement for the three months ended March 31, 2006, and pro forma historical customer statistics are also provided in the addendum of this news release.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call on Thursday, May 3, 2007, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) related to the contents of this release.

The conference call will be webcast live via the Company's website at www.charter.com. Access the webcast by clicking on "About Charter" at the top of the home page. Participants should go to the call link at least 10 minutes prior to the start time to register. The call will be archived on the website beginning two hours after its completion. Accompanying slides will also be available on the site.

Those participating via telephone should dial 888-233-1576. International participants should dial 706-643-3458.

A replay will be available at (800) 642-1687 or (706) 645-9291 beginning two hours after completion of the call through midnight May 10, 2007. The passcode for the replay is 4583725.

About Charter Communications[R]

Charter Communications, Inc. is a leading broadband communications company Communications Company is a communications unit of the United States Marine Corps. They are part of Combat Logistics Regiment 37 , 3rd Marine Logistics Group (3MLG) and III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF). The unit is based out of the Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D.  and the third-largest publicly traded cable operator in the United States. Charter provides a full range of advanced broadband services See broadband and broadband service provider. , including advanced Charter Digital Cable[R] video entertainment programming, Charter High-Speed[R] Internet access See how to access the Internet. , and Charter Telephone[R]. Charter Business[TM] similarly provides scalable, tailored, and cost-effective broadband communications solutions to business organizations, such as business-to-business Internet access, data networking, video and music entertainment services, and business telephone. Charter's advertising sales and production services are sold under the Charter Media[R] brand. More information about Charter can be found at www.charter.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements forward-looking statement

A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections.
:

This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), regarding, among other things, our plans, strategies and prospects, both business and financial. Although we believe that our plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or realize these plans, intentions or expectations. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many of the forward-looking statements contained in this quarterly report may be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "should," "planned," "will," "may," "intend," "estimated," "aim," "on track," "target," "opportunity" and "potential," among others. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements we make in this release are set forth in reports or documents that we file from time to time with the SEC, and include, but are not limited to:

* the availability, in general, of funds to meet interest payment obligations under our debt and to fund our operations and necessary capital expenditures, either through cash flows from operating activities, further borrowings or other sources and, in particular, our ability to be able to provide under the applicable debt instruments such funds (by dividend, investment or otherwise) to the applicable obligor The individual who owes another person a certain debt or duty.

The term obligor is often used interchangeably with debtor.


obligor (ah-bluh-gore) n.
 of such debt;

* our ability to comply with all covenants in our indentures and credit facilities, any violation of which could trigger a default of our other obligations under cross-default provisions;

* our ability to pay or refinance Refinance

1. When a business or person revises their payment schedule for repaying debt.

2. Replacing an older loan with a new loan offering better terms.

Notes:
When a business refinances they typically extend the maturity date.
 debt prior to or when it becomes due and/or refinance that debt through new issuances, exchange offers or otherwise, including restructuring restructuring - The transformation from one representation form to another at the same relative abstraction level, while preserving the subject system's external behaviour (functionality and semantics).  our balance sheet and leverage position;

* competition from other distributors, including incumbent telephone companies, direct broadcast satellite operators, wireless broadband High-speed wireless transmission of data. What is "high" speed is always a changing number. Wireless systems are typically slower than land-based, wireline networks. In the past, wireless broadband started at 250 Kbps, whereas land-based broadband was generally considered to start at T1  providers and DSL DSL
 in full Digital Subscriber Line

Broadband digital communications connection that operates over standard copper telephone wires. It requires a DSL modem, which splits transmissions into two frequency bands: the lower frequencies for voice (ordinary
 providers;

* difficulties in introducing and operating our telephone services, such as our ability to adequately meet customer expectations for the reliability of voice services, and our ability to adequately meet demand for installations and customer service;

* our ability to sustain and grow revenues and cash flows from operating activities by offering video, high-speed Internet, telephone and other services, and to maintain and grow our customer base, particularly in the face of increasingly aggressive competition;

* our ability to obtain programming at reasonable prices or to adequately raise prices to offset the effects of higher programming costs;

* general business conditions, economic uncertainty or slowdown For articles with similar titles, see Slow Down (disambiguation).
A slowdown is an industrial action in which employees perform their duties but seek to reduce productivity or efficiency in their performance of these duties.
; and

* the effects of governmental regulation, including but not limited to local franchise authorities, on our business.

All forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety The whole, in contradistinction to a moiety or part only. When land is conveyed to Husband and Wife, they do not take by moieties, but both are seised of the entirety.  by this cautionary statement. We are under no duty or obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this release.
[TABLE OMITTED]
[TABLE OMITTED]
[TABLE OMITTED]
[TABLE OMITTED]
[TABLE OMITTED]
[TABLE OMITTED]
[TABLE OMITTED]
COPYRIGHT 2007 Business Wire
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2007, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

 Reader Opinion

Title:

Comment:



 

Article Details
Printer friendly Cite/link Email Feedback
Publication:Business Wire
Date:May 3, 2007
Words:2811
Previous Article:Curlin For Kids Fund to Benefit Children's Charities Named In Honor of Kentucky Derby Hopeful.
Next Article:KSW, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2007 Results.
Topics:



Related Articles
Charter Communications, Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2000 Financial Results; Increases in Revenue, Operating Cash Flow, and Customers Continue.
Charter Communications Exceeds Revenue, Operating Cash Flow Guidance; Strong Digital Video, High-Speed Data and Basic Customer Increases Continued...
CEO Details Turnaround Plan.
Charter Posts Strong Revenue and Cash Flow Growth For the First Quarter of 2002.
Charter Reports Third Quarter 2002 Results; Demand for Digital Cable and High-Speed Data Remains Strong.
Atlantic Broadband Finance, LLC Reports 2004 First Quarter Financial Results and Conference Call.
Charter Reports Third-Quarter 2006 Financial and Operating Results.
Charter Reports Preliminary Financial and Operating Results for Fourth-Quarter 2006.

Terms of use | Copyright © 2012 Farlex, Inc. | Feedback | For webmasters | Submit articles