Consolidated Communications Reports First Quarter 2020 Results

Company delivered strong performance and stable Adjusted EBITDA; Reduced debt by $43 million and executing on Capital Allocation Plan 

First Quarter Highlights

• Revenue totaled $325.7 million, generating Adjusted EBITDA of $131.6 million
• Data-transport and broadband revenue both grew 1.6 percent
• Operating activities generated net cash of $85 million
• Operating expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization, improved by $17 million or 8 percent
• Debt reduced by $43 million and leverage ratio lowered to 4.23x

MATTOON, Ill., April 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CNSL) (the “Company” or “Consolidated”) reported results for the first quarter 2020 and will hold a conference call and simultaneous webcast to discuss its results and developments today at 10 a.m. E.T.

“During this time and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are first and foremost focused on ensuring the safety of our employees and customers, while maintaining business continuity,” said Bob Udell, president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Communications. “As a critical infrastructure provider, we have responded quickly to identify new and innovative ways to serve our customers. We are effectively managing a substantial increase in service orders and bandwidth upgrades, while maintaining reliable services and support to all customers. Our network is performing as designed against a heavier load of voice and data traffic even considering our no cap policy on broadband services.” 

“I want to especially thank our teams who continue to work tirelessly and demonstrate flexibility and commitment to ensure business resiliency. As an essential partner, we are here to support our customers and the communities we serve with critical communication solutions, and look forward to being part of the economic recovery.”

“2020 began with strong momentum, improving revenue trends and stable Adjusted EBITDA, both of which contributed to significant debt reduction in the first quarter,” added Udell. “I’m very pleased with the revenue growth within data-transport and broadband services, both of which grew approximately 2 percent in the quarter. Additionally, we continued to improve our cost structure as we reduced operating expenses by 8 percent in the recent quarter.”     

Financial Results for the First Quarter   

• Revenue totaled $325.7 million, a decline of 3.8 percent compared to first quarter 2019.
  
  
  • Data and transport service revenue increased 1.6 percent or $1.4 million.
  • Commercial and carrier other revenue was down $3.5 million primarily due to timing on equipment sales.
  • Broadband revenue increased 1.6 percent or $991,000.
  • Voice services revenue across all customer channels declined 5.4 percent or $5.1 million. This reflects a moderated level of decline compared to prior periods.
  • Network access revenues declined $5.1 million primarily due to declines in special access.
    
    
• Income from operations increased to $37.4 million compared to $16.7 million in the first quarter of 2019. The change was primarily due to operating expense reductions of $17.1 million that were largely attributed to ongoing cost savings initiatives along with continued network cost optimization. Depreciation and amortization expense declined $16.5 million primarily due to certain acquired assets, which became fully depreciated.
  
  
• Net interest expense was $32.1 million, down $2.2 million from the same period last year. As of March 31, our weighted average cost of debt was approximately 5.3 percent.
  
  
• Cash distributions from the Company’s wireless partnerships totaled $10.1 million, compared to $7.3 million for the prior year period.  
   
• Other income was $15.2 million compared to income of $7.2 million one year ago. The change was primarily due to higher income from the Company’s minority interest in wireless partnerships combined with a gain of $3.7 million on an asset sale.  
  
  
• On a GAAP basis, net income was $15.6 million, compared to a net loss of $7.2 million for the same period last year. GAAP net income per share was $0.22. Adjusted diluted net income (loss) per share excludes certain items as outlined in the table provided in this release. Adjusted diluted net income per share was $0.23 in the first quarter of 2020, compared to a net loss per share of $(0.03) in the first quarter of 2019. 
  
  
• Adjusted EBITDA was $131.6 million, up compared to $130.3 million in the first quarter last year.
  
  
• The total net debt to last 12-month Adjusted EBITDA ratio improved to 4.23x, as the Company committed substantially all of its free cash flow towards $43 million in debt reduction in the first quarter. 
  
  
• Capital expenditures totaled $42.4 million in the first quarter driven by success-based, fiber and wireless tower projects and broadband network investments. 

Guidance

Due to the lack of visibility related to the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery, the Company has withdrawn financial guidance at this time.

Conference Call Information

Consolidated’s first-quarter earnings conference call will be webcast today at 10 a.m. ET. The live webcast and replay will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at http://ir.consolidated.com.

About Consolidated Communications 

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNSL) is a leading broadband and business communications provider serving consumers, businesses, and wireless and wireline carriers across rural and metro communities and a 23-state service area. Leveraging an advanced fiber network spanning 37,500 fiber route miles, Consolidated Communications offers a wide range of communications solutions, including: high-speed Internet, data, phone, security, managed services, cloud services and wholesale, carrier solutions. From our first connection 125 years ago, Consolidated is dedicated to turning technology into solutions, connecting people and enriching how they work and live. Visit www.consolidated.com for more information.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures                         

This press release, as well as the conference call, includes disclosures regarding “EBITDA,” “adjusted EBITDA,” “total net debt to last twelve month adjusted EBITDA ratio,” “free cash flow” and “adjusted diluted net income (loss) per share,” all of which are non-GAAP financial measures and described in this section as not being in compliance with Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they should not be construed as alternatives to net cash from operating or investing activities, cash and cash equivalents, cash flows from operations, net income or net income per share as defined by GAAP and are not, on their own, necessarily indicative of cash available to fund cash needs as determined in accordance with GAAP. In addition, not all companies use identical calculations, and the non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. A reconciliation of the differences between these non-GAAP financial measures and the most directly comparable financial measures presented in accordance with GAAP is included in the tables that follow.

Adjusted EBITDA is comprised of EBITDA, adjusted for certain items as permitted or required by the lenders under our credit agreement in place at the end of each quarter in the periods presented.  The tables that follow include an explanation of how adjusted EBITDA is calculated for each of the periods presented with the reconciliation to net income.  EBITDA is defined as net earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization on a historical basis.  

We present adjusted EBITDA for several reasons.  Management believes adjusted EBITDA is useful as a means to evaluate our ability to fund our estimated uses of cash (including interest on our debt). In addition, we have presented adjusted EBITDA to investors in the past because it is frequently used by investors, securities analysts and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in our industry, and management believes presenting it here provides a measure of consistency in our financial reporting. Adjusted EBITDA, referred to as Available Cash in our credit agreement, is also a component of the restrictive covenants and financial ratios contained in our credit agreement that requires us to maintain compliance with these covenants and limit certain activities, such as our ability to incur debt. The definitions in these covenants and ratios are based on adjusted EBITDA after giving effect to specified charges. In addition, adjusted EBITDA provides our board of directors with meaningful information, with other data, assumptions and considerations, to measure our ability to service and repay debt.  We present the related “total net debt to last twelve month adjusted EBITDA ratio” principally to put other non-GAAP measures in context and facilitate comparisons by investors, security analysts and others; this ratio differs in certain respects from the similar ratio used in our credit agreement.  These measures differ in certain respects from the ratios used in our senior notes indenture. 

These non-GAAP financial measures have certain shortcomings. In particular, adjusted EBITDA does not represent the residual cash flows available for discretionary expenditures, since items such as debt repayment and interest payments are not deducted from such measure. Because adjusted EBITDA is a component of the ratio of total net debt to last twelve month adjusted EBITDA, these measures are also subject to the material limitations discussed above. In addition, the ratio of total net debt to last twelve month adjusted EBITDA is subject to the risk that we may not be able to use the cash on the balance sheet to reduce our debt on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Management believes this ratio is useful as a means to evaluate our ability to incur additional indebtedness in the future. 

Free cash flow represents net cash provided by operating activities adjusted for capital expenditures, cash dividends and proceeds received from the sale of assets. Free cash flow is a measure of operating cash flows available for corporate purposes after providing sufficient fixed asset additions. The tables that follow include a calculation of free cash flow for each of the periods presented with a reconciliation to net cash provided by operating activities. Free cash flow provides useful information to investors in the evaluation of our operating performance and liquidity.

We present the non-GAAP measure “adjusted diluted net income (loss) per share” because our net income (loss) and net income (loss) per share are regularly affected by items that occur at irregular intervals or are non-cash items.  We believe that disclosing these measures assists investors, securities analysts and other interested parties in evaluating both our company over time and the relative performance of the companies in our industry.
                       
Safe Harbor

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) encourages companies to disclose forward-looking information so that investors can better understand a company’s future prospects and make informed investment decisions.  Certain statements in this communication are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These forward-looking statements reflect, among other things, our current expectations, plans, strategies, and anticipated financial results.  There are a number of risks, uncertainties, and conditions that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.  These risks and uncertainties include a number of factors related to our business, including the uncertainties relating to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the company’s business, results of operations, cash flows, stock price and employees; economic and financial market conditions generally and economic conditions in our service areas;  various risks to the price and volatility of our common stock; changes in the valuation of pension plan assets; the substantial amount of debt and our ability to repay or refinance it or incur additional debt in the future; our need for a significant amount of cash to service and repay the debt  restrictions contained in our debt agreements that limit the discretion of management in operating the business; regulatory changes, including changes to subsidies, rapid development and introduction of new technologies and intense competition in the telecommunications industry; risks associated with our possible pursuit of acquisitions; system failures; cyber-attacks, information or security breaches or technology failure of ours or of a third party; losses of large customers or government contracts; risks associated with the rights-of-way for the network; disruptions in the relationship with third party vendors; losses of key management personnel and the inability to attract and retain highly qualified management and personnel in the future; changes in the extensive governmental legislation and regulations governing telecommunications providers and the provision of telecommunications services; new or changing tax laws or regulations; telecommunications carriers disputing and/or avoiding their obligations to pay network access charges for use of our network; high costs of regulatory compliance; the competitive impact of legislation and regulatory changes in the telecommunications industry; and liability and compliance costs regarding environmental regulations; and risks associated with discontinuing paying dividends on our common stock. A detailed discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from such forward-looking statements are discussed in more detail in our filings with the SEC, including our reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q.  Many of these circumstances are beyond our ability to control or predict.  Moreover, forward-looking statements necessarily involve assumptions on our part.  These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “should,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue” or similar expressions.  Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements of Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries to be different from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements.  All forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements that appear throughout this communication.  Furthermore, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made.  Except as required under the federal securities laws or the rules and regulations of the SEC, we disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements.  You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Company Contact                                                                      

Jennifer Spaude, Consolidated Communications
Phone:  507-386-3765
jennifer.spaude@consolidated.com