Altice NV: Altice USA Reports Full Year & Q4 2017 Results


27 February 2018

ALTICE USA REPORTS FULL YEAR AND FOURTH QUARTER 2017 RESULTS
Delivers Another Year of Revenue Growth and High Cash Flow Growth
Further Progress Against Key Company Initiatives
Remains on Track for Anticipated Spin-Off from Altice N.V.

Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) today reported results for the full year and quarter ended December 31, 2017[1]

Dexter Goei, Altice USA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: "2017 was a transformational year for Altice USA.  We continued to have great momentum and delivered strong financial results by growing our customer base, revenues and margins with high free cash flow growth. We have made significant investments in our customer experience as well as strategic decisions to improve our products and services. This includes expanding the availability of ultra-fast broadband speeds, launching our new integrated entertainment platform Altice One, expanding our content line-up, commencing the rollout of a state-of-the-art fiber (FTTH) network, signing a full MVNO agreement to be able to launch mobile services for our customers and investing in a multiscreen addressable and national advertising platform. In 2018 and beyond, we will remain very focused on investing for growth in innovation, superior service and an advanced network to deliver a more robust and differentiated product portfolio to meet customers' needs."

Altice USA Key Financial Highlights

·         Revenue growth of +3.2% YoY in FY 2017 (excluding Newsday); reported revenue growth of +1.9% YoY to $9.33 billion

·         In Q4, reported revenue grew +2.6% YoY to $2.37 billion, driven by residential (B2C) revenue growth of 1.8%, business services (B2B) revenue growth of 5.1% and advertising revenue growth of 9.9%

·         Adjusted EBITDA grew +19.5% YoY in FY 2017 to $4.01 billion; Adjusted EBITDA (excluding Newsday) margin increased 5.9 percentage points YoY to 42.9% (44.1% in Q4 2017)

·         Operating Free Cash Flow[2] grew +25.8% YoY in FY 2017 to $3.01 billion with an OpFCF margin of 32.3% vs. 26.5% in FY 2016 (OpFCF margin of 34.5% in Q4 2017) showing very strong cash flow conversion

  Three Months Ended December 31,   Twelve Months Ended December 31,
($k) 2017   2016   2017   2016
  Actual   Actual   Actual   Actual
        
Revenue 2,365,378   2,305,901   9,326,570   6,017,212
Adjusted EBITDA 1,043,337   929,608   4,005,690   2,414,735
Net income (loss)[3] 2,254,682   (236,049)   1,521,618   (831,479)
Capital Expenditures (cash) 228,066   247,815   991,364   625,541

Altice USA Operational Highlights

·         Residential (B2C) revenue growth of +2.9% in FY 2017 driven by growth in total unique residential (B2C) customer relationships with net additions of +7k in FY 2017 (+6k in Q4 2017)

·         Residential (B2C) ARPU increased 2.2% YoY to $139.8 in FY 2017 (+1.5% YoY in Q4 2017 to $140.2)

             
·         Residential (B2C) broadband net additions of +25k, pay TV RGU net losses of -25k, and telephony net additions of +10k in Q4 2017 (vs. +36k, -21k, and -4k in Q4 2016 respectively)

             
·         Solid Business Services (B2B) revenue growth of +5.5% in FY 2017 driven by superior SMB growth +7.5% YoY with SMB representing c.64% of total B2B revenue (Enterprise & Carrier revenue, representing c.36% of total B2B revenue, grew +2.3% in FY 2017)

             
·         Advertising growth supported by investment in multiscreen and national targeted audience capabilities

·         Continued enhancement of data services with an increased demand for higher speed tiers; 90% of B2C broadband gross additions taking download speeds of 100Mbps or higher at end of Q4

             
·         Up to 400Mbps broadband speeds were available for 86% of Altice USA residential/business customers by the end of 2017, including 95% of the Optimum footprint, with 72% of the Suddenlink footprint now able to receive up to 1 Gigabit speeds

The complete announcement can be found on Altice USA investor relations website: http://alticeusa.com/

Altice N.V. (Euronext: ATC NA and ATCB NA) will release its Q4 2017 results separately on Thursday, March 15, 2018.

Contacts

Head of Investor Relations
Nick Brown: +41 79 720 1503 / nick.brown@altice.net

Head of Communications
Arthur Dreyfuss: +41 79 946 4931 / arthur.dreyfuss@altice.net

Head of Communications Altice USA
Lisa Anselmo: +1 929 418 4362 / lisa.anselmo@alticeusa.com

About Altice

Founded in 2001 by entrepreneur Patrick Drahi, Altice is a convergent global leader in telecoms, content, media, entertainment and advertising. Altice delivers innovative, customer-centric products and solutions that connect and unlock the limitless potential of its over 50 million customers over fiber networks and mobile broadband. The company enables millions of people to live out their passions by providing original content, high-quality and compelling TV shows, and international, national and local news channels. Altice delivers live broadcast premium sports events and enables millions of customers to enjoy the most well-known media and entertainment. Altice innovates with technology in its Altice Labs across the world. Altice links leading brands to audiences through premium advertising solutions. Altice is also a global provider of enterprise digital solutions to millions of business customers. Altice is present in 10 territories from New York to Paris, from Tel Aviv to Lisbon, from Santo Domingo to Geneva, from Amsterdam to Dallas. Altice (ATC & ATCB) is listed on Euronext Amsterdam. For more information, visit www.altice.net

About Altice USA

Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS), the U.S. business of Altice N.V. (Euronext: ATC, ATCB), is one of the largest broadband communications and video services providers in the United States, delivering broadband, pay television, telephony services, Wi-Fi hotspot access, proprietary content and advertising services to approximately 4.9 million residential and business customers across 21 states through its Optimum and Suddenlink brands.




[1] Financial data for twelve months ended December 31, 2016 is pro forma defined as results of Altice USA as if the Cablevision (Optimum) acquisition had occurred on January 1, 2016, unless noted otherwise. All financials shown under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") reporting standard.

[2] Operating Free Cash Flow defined here as Adjusted EBITDA less cash capital expenditures.

[3] Pursuant to the enactment of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act ("Tax Reform") on December 22, 2017, the Company recorded a noncash deferred tax benefit of $2,337,900 in Q4 2017 to remeasure the net deferred tax liability to adjust for the reduction in the corporate federal income tax rate from 35% to 21% which is effective on January 1, 2018.


Attachment:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/516faffe-e7f2-4b58-8592-665f578254c5


Attachments

Altice USA Reports Full Year & Q4 2017 Results.pdf