Citizens Utilities Reports Third Quarter 1999 Financial Results.STAMFORD Stamford, town, England Stamford, town (1991 pop. 18,127), in the Parts of Kesteven, Lincolnshire, E central England, on the Welland River. It is a market town. Products include diesel engines, electrical equipment, bricks, and tiles. , Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 9, 1999-- Citizens Utilities (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : CZN, CZNPr) announced financial results today for the third quarter and nine months ended September September: see month. 30, 1999. Revenues 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 were $271.5 million in the third quarter, up 15% from the $236.3 million in the third quarter of 1998. Pre-tax income increased to $14.0 million, 3% higher than the $13.6 million for the prior year quarter. Net income for the third quarter of 1999 was $11.9 million, or 5 cents per share Cents per share The amount of a mutual fund's dividend or capital gains distributions that a shareholder will receive for each share owned. , compared to $14.5 million, or 6 cents per share, for the third quarter of 1998. Net income and earnings per share for the current quarter were affected by increased tax expense related to out-of-period gains on the sales of investments. For the nine months ended September 30, 1999, revenues from continuing operations were $810.2 million, up 18% from the $685.4 million for the prior year period. Pre-tax income was $92.9 million, 84% above the $50.6 million for the prior year period. Nine-month net income was $74.3 million, up 33% from the prior year level of $55.7 million. Earnings per share for the nine-month period in 1999 was 29 cents, up 38% compared to 21 cents for the 1998 period. During the third quarter, Citizens adopted a plan to divest To deprive or take away. Divest is usually used in reference to the relinquishment of authority, power, property, or title. If, for example, an individual is disinherited, he or she is divested of the right to inherit money. its public services Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly (through the public sector) or by financing private provision of services. businesses. Accordingly, the financial results of those businesses are now presented separately on the company's income statements as income from discontinued operations Discontinued operations Divisions of a business that have been sold or written off and that no longer are maintained by the business. , net of tax. "Citizens overall financial performance compared to the prior year quarter was very strong," said Robert J. DeSantis, vice president and chief financial officer. "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. increased 11% to $21 million, while 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 (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) is a non-GAAP metric that can be used to evaluate a company's profitability.
Commenting on the performance of Citizens Communications Citizens Communications is the parent company of Frontier Telephone, providing telephone and internet access in 24 states. The company headquarters are located at 3 High Ridge Park in Stamford, Connecticut. , DeSantis said, "Our local telephone exchange operations continued to generate strong revenue growth. Network access services revenue was up 16%, driven by an 18% increase in switched access minutes of use, and local network services revenue was up 9%, driven by 6% growth in access lines and continued growth in enhanced services Enhanced service is service offered over commercial carrier transmission facilities used in interstate communications, that employs computer processing applications that act on the format, content, code, protocol, or similar aspects of the subscriber's transmitted information; . Communications sector EBITDA also improved, growing to about $95 million, up 11% over the prior year." With respect to the company's competitive local exchange operations, DeSantis said, "Electric Lightwave's revenues increased 91% over the prior year quarter to $48 million while gross margins reached 70%. Operating and EBITDA losses declined further and we expect those improvements to continue, with EBITDA turning positive by the second half of 2000." "We have also made significant progress with the divestiture The breakup of AT&T. By federal court order, AT&T divested itself on January 1, 1984 of its 23 operating companies, which became known as the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs). of our public services businesses, with the announced sale in October of our water and wastewater operations for $835 million," DeSantis said. "We now anticipate a spirited auction for our gas and electric properties." Citizens Utilities provides telecommunications services In telecommunication, the term telecommunications service has the following meanings: 1. Any service provided by a telecommunication provider. 2. and public services including gas distribution, electric distribution, water distribution and wastewater treatment services to approximately 1.9 million customers in 22 states. Citizens also owns 82% of Electric Lightwave, 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 : ELIX), a facilities-based, integrated communications provider that offers a broad range of services to telecommunications-intensive businesses throughout 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. . Earlier this year, Citizens announced that it was acquiring 800,000 telephone access lines in 11 states from GTE GTE General Telephone & Electronics GTE Génie Thermique et Énergie (French) GTE Gas Turbine Engine GTE Global Tropospheric Experiment GTE Geothermal Energy GTE Gas Turbine Efficiency plc (Sweden & USA) and U S WEST, and that it was divesting its public services businesses. Citizens plans to use the proceeds from the divestitures to fund the acquisitions. This document contains 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. that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the statements. These and all forward-looking statements are only predictions or statements of current plans that are constantly under review by the company. All forward-looking statements may differ from actual results because of, but not limited to, changes in the local and overall economy, changes in market conditions for debt and equity securities, the nature and pace of technological changes, the number and effectiveness of competitors in the company's markets, success in overall strategy, weather conditions, changes in legal or regulatory policy, changes in legislation, the company's ability to identify future markets and successfully expand existing ones and the mix of products and services offered in the company's target markets. These important factors should be considered in evaluating any statement contained herein and/or made by the company or on its behalf. The foregoing information should be read in conjunction with the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission including, but not limited to, reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. The company does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of future events or circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact. 2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable, or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or .
Citizens Utilities Company and Subsidiaries
Consolidated Financial Data
(unaudited)
For the quarter
ended
September 30,
-------------------
%
(Dollars in thousands) 1999 1998 Change
---------------------------
Income Statement Data
Continuing operations (1)
Revenues $271,517 $236,324 15%
Network expenses 18,648 24,931 -25%
Depreciation and amortization 64,628 50,004 29%
Other operating expenses 167,245 142,403 17%
Operating income 20,996 18,986 11%
Investment and other income 14,783 11,818 25%
Interest expense 21,745 17,181 27%
Special items (2) - -
Pre-tax income 14,034 13,623 3%
Income taxes 3,956 1,504 163%
Convertible preferred dividends 1,553 1,553 0%
Income from continuing operations 8,525 10,566 -19%
Income from discontinued operations, net of
tax (3) 3,383 3,895 -13%
Net income 11,908 14,461 -18%
Per-Share Data (4)
Basic net income per share of common stock $ 0.05 $ 0.06 -18%
Weighted average shares outstanding (5) 260,610 260,139 0%
For the nine
months ended
September 30,
-------------------
%
(Dollars in thousands) 1999 1998 Change
--------------------------
Income Statement Data
Continuing operations (1)
Revenues $810,213 $685,375 18%
Network expenses 86,937 73,653 18%
Depreciation and amortization 186,276 148,943 25%
Other operating expenses 493,901 396,484 25%
Operating income 43,099 66,295 -35%
Investment and other income 39,434 35,228 12%
Interest expense 59,142 48,576 22%
Special items (2) 69,499 (2,334)
Pre-tax income 92,890 50,613 84%
Income taxes 30,812 7,044 337%
Convertible preferred dividends 4,657 4,657 0%
Income from continuing operations 57,421 38,912 48%
Income from discontinued operations, net of
tax (3) 16,863 16,790 0%
Net income 74,284 55,702 33%
Per-Share Data (4)
Basic net income per share of common stock $ 0.29 $ 0.21 33%
Weighted average shares outstanding (5) 259,985 259,409 0%
(1) Continuing operations include the Company's Communications and CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) An organization offering local telephone service that is not one of the traditional telephone companies. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed competition to the incumbent telcos (ILECs), enabling new companies (CLECs) businesses. (2) In the first quarter of 1999, the Company recorded a pre-tax gain of $69.5 million ($42.9 million net of tax) on the sale of Centennial Cellular stock. In the first quarter of 1998, Electric Lightwave, Inc. recorded a pre-tax charge to earnings of $2.8 million ($2.3 million net of tax) for the cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle. (3) The company is reporting its Public Services businesses as discontinued operations. Interest expense has been imputed Attributed vicariously. In the legal sense, the term imputed is used to describe an action, fact, or quality, the knowledge of which is charged to an individual based upon the actions of another for whom the individual is responsible rather than on the individual's to these businesses. (4) Calculated based on weighted average shares outstanding. (5) Adjusted for subsequent stock dividends and stock splits and used in the calculation of all per share data. |
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