CTCI CT Communications (MM)

CONCORD, N.C., May 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- First Quarter 2007 Highlights -- Operating revenue increased 5% to $45.4 million vs. year ago quarter -- Operating income increased 21% to $6.1 million vs. year ago quarter -- Commercial trial launch of video services -- 28% increase in broadband customers from first quarter last year First Quarter 2007 Results CT Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTCI) announces operating revenue of $45.4 million for the first quarter of 2007, an increase of 5.4% when compared to the first quarter of 2006. The increase in operating revenue was driven by a $1.2 million increase in customer recurring revenue due to strong customer growth in several of the Company's businesses. Broadband customers increased 28%, Wireless subscribers increased 6% and Greenfield access lines increased 10% compared to the end of the first quarter of 2006. In addition to the growth in customer recurring revenue, revenue associated with telephone system sales increased $0.4 million, while universal service and access and interconnection revenue each increased $0.3 million compared to the prior year quarter. Operating income increased 20.7%, or $1.0 million, to $6.1 million in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the first quarter of 2006. Operating expense in the first quarter of 2007 increased 3.3% to $39.3 million compared to the same period last year. The $1.3 million increase in operating expense was primarily attributable to a $0.6 million increase in stock based compensation expense and a $0.5 million increase in Wireless switching expense. Wireless switching expense in the first quarter of 2006 included a $0.4 million expense reduction related to an annual true-up of fiscal year 2005 Wireless switching rates by Cingular. The 2006 true-up has not yet been finalized. Other income in the first quarter of 2006 included the Company's income from the operations of Palmetto MobileNet ("PMN") and gain from the sale of PMN's interests in ten wireless partnerships that totaled $89.8 million. In addition, the Company recorded investment impairment charges of $0.9 million in the first quarter of 2006. Excluding the effect of these items, other income increased approximately $0.9 million from the first quarter of 2006 due to an increase in investment income and a decrease in interest expense. Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2007 was $4.6 million, or $0.23 per diluted share compared to $57.4 million, or $2.99 per diluted share in the same quarter last year. Included in net income in the prior year quarter was $54.4 million, or $2.84 per diluted share related to the PMN sale and $0.7 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, in asset and investment impairment charges. Excluding the PMN sale and the impairment charges, earnings per share increased 21.1% to $0.23 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2007. Results by Business Unit The following presentation has been modified to reflect the Company's change in its business unit reporting for the quarter ending March 31, 2007. The Company made these changes to report operating results based on the complete product and service relationship with customers in each business unit. As a result, the former Internet and Data Services business unit historical and first quarter 2007 results have been included in the ILEC, CLEC and Greenfield business unit results. -- ILEC - ("Concord Telephone") Concord Telephone's operating revenue increased $1.2 million to $27.1 million in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the same quarter in 2006. The increase in operating revenue was mainly due to a $0.5 million increase in broadband revenue driven by broadband customer growth, a $0.4 million increase in telephone system sales and a $0.3 million increase in universal service revenue. Operating expense increased $1.4 million to $20.7 million in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the same quarter in 2006. The increase in operating expense was primarily due to a $0.8 million increase in personnel expense largely associated with an increase in stock based compensation expense, a $0.3 million increase in selling expenses and a $0.2 million increase in cost of materials sold associated with the higher level of telephone system sales. Operating income decreased 2.5% to $6.4 million in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the same period last year. Operating margin for the first quarter of 2007 was 23.6% compared to 25.3% for the first quarter of 2006. ILEC average monthly customer churn during the first quarter of 2007 was 1.3%, flat with the fourth quarter of 2006 and up from the 1.0% rate in the same quarter last year. Broadband accounts increased to 24,117, an increase of 26% from the first quarter of 2006. Concord Telephone ended the first quarter of 2007 with 104,990 access lines in service, a 4.4% decrease from the end of the first quarter of 2006. The Company launched a video trial to select customers in the ILEC service territory at the end of the first quarter of 2007. The video service offered to customers participating in this trial includes a fully competitive channel line-up, as well as high definition programming and digital video recording ("DVR") capabilities. The trial participants have video, data and voice services delivered through fiber optic facilities, which are part of the Company's fiber initiative that passed over 11,000 ILEC homes at the end of the first quarter of 2007. Initial broadband service download speeds for customers in this trial are up to 15 Mbps, but future product capabilities will likely move well beyond this rate. -- Wireless Wireless operating revenue increased 6.6% to $9.8 million in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006. Customer recurring revenue increased $0.7 million, driven by a 6% growth in subscribers, but was partially offset by a decrease in handset and accessory revenue. Operating expense increased $0.5 million, or 5.7%, from the same period last year primarily due to the $0.4 million switching rate true-up reduction recorded in the first quarter of 2006. The 2006 true-up has not been finalized. Operating income in the first quarter of 2007 was $0.7 million compared to $0.6 million in the same period last year. Wireless ended the first quarter of 2007 with 49,806 subscribers, an increase of 6% compared to the end of the first quarter of 2006. -- CLEC CLEC operating revenue increased 2.8% to $5.4 million in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the same quarter last year. The increase in operating revenue was due to a $0.2 million increase in access and interconnection revenue related to growth in access lines. Operating expense decreased 3.6% to $5.7 million in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the same period last year. The decrease in operating expense was largely due to a $0.3 million decrease in cost of service, which was mainly attributable to network efficiency initiatives. Operating loss for the first quarter of 2007 improved to $0.3 million compared to $0.6 million for the first quarter of 2006. CLEC ended the first quarter of 2007 with 36,099 access lines, an increase of 8% compared to 33,390 access lines at the end of the first quarter last year. In addition, the CLEC ended the first quarter with 772 broadband customers, an increase of 20% from the 644 at the end of the first quarter of 2006. -- Greenfield Greenfield's operating revenue increased 13.2% to $3.2 million in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the same period last year. The increase in operating revenue was primarily due to a $0.3 million increase in customer recurring revenue. The increase in customer revenue was driven by a 42% increase in Greenfield broadband customers and a 10% increase in access lines. Operating expense decreased slightly to $3.5 million in the first quarter of 2007. Operating loss for the first quarter of 2007 improved to $0.3 million from a $0.7 million operating loss for the first quarter of 2006. Greenfield ended the first quarter of 2007 with 16,797 access lines and 3,776 broadband customers, which represent increases of 10% and 42%, respectively, from the end of the first quarter of 2006. The Company continues to focus on Greenfield opportunities that leverage Company-owned network infrastructure to minimize the cost to serve additional customers. As of March 31, 2007, the Company had 130 Greenfield projects, which in total represent approximately 58,000 marketable access lines at the completion of the projects. Future Period Guidance We currently expect operating results to approximate the following during these future periods: -- 2nd Quarter 2007 -- Revenue of $44.3 to $45.3 million -- Operating income of $5.8 to $6.2 million -- Depreciation expense of $7.8 to $7.9 million -- Diluted earnings per share of $0.23 to $0.25 -- Capital expenditures of $8.0 to $10.0 million -- Full Year 2007 -- Revenue of $177.0 to $181.0 million -- Operating income of $22.0 to $25.0 million -- Depreciation expense of $31.0 to $32.0 million -- Diluted earnings per share of $0.81 to $0.85 -- Capital expenditures of $32 to $35 million This guidance does not include the impact of Cingular requiring us to replace certain cell site equipment. This project, which has been previously discussed, is now underway with an expected cash outlay of approximately $5 million. CT Communications will host a conference call to discuss the results of the first quarter 2007 on Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 10:00 AM local time. You are invited to listen live to the conference call over the Internet at http://www.ctc.net/. If you are unable to listen during the live webcast, the call will be archived on the Web site at http://www.ctc.net/ until May 31, 2007. Additionally, a replay of the call will be available until 5:00 PM local time on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 800-633-8284. Enter access number 21336891. CT Communications, Inc., headquartered in Concord, N.C., is a growing provider of integrated telecommunications and related services to residential and business customers located primarily in North Carolina. CT Communications, Inc. offers a comprehensive package of telecommunications services, including broadband high-speed Internet services, local and long distance telephone services, and digital wireless voice and data services. Certain statements contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements," within the meaning of federal securities laws. We intend these forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions made by management about us, including, among other things, changes in industry conditions created by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and related state and federal legislation and regulations, the impact of economic conditions related to financial performance of customers, business partners, competitors and peers within the telecommunications industry, the recovery of the substantial costs incurred over the past few years in connection with our expansion into new businesses, retention of our existing customer base and our ability to attract new customers, our ability to control pricing and product offerings in a highly competitive industry, our ability to attract and retain key personnel, the performance of our investments, rapid changes in technology, our ability to manage capital expenditures related to changes in technology, actions of our competitors, the impact of economic and political events on our business, operating regions and customers, including terrorist attacks. In some cases, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "project," "intend" or "potential" or the negative of those words or other comparable words. These forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual events or results because they involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties and should be viewed with caution. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as the result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are also directed to consider the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed in documents filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those matters summarized under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006. CT Communications, Inc. Consolidated Statements of Income (Unaudited, in thousands, except per share amounts) Three Months Ended March 31, % 2007 2006 Change Operating Revenue ILEC Services $27,122 $25,923 4.6% Wireless Services 9,761 9,157 6.6% CLEC Services 5,365 5,219 2.8% Greenfield Services 3,164 2,796 13.2% Total Operating Revenue 45,412 43,095 5.4% Operating Expense ILEC Services 20,724 19,363 7.0% Wireless Services 9,095 8,606 5.7% CLEC Services 5,650 5,861 (3.6%) Greenfield Services 3,477 3,506 (0.8%) Other 343 684 (49.9%) Total Operating Expense 39,289 38,020 3.3% Operating Income 6,123 5,075 20.7% Other Income (Expense) Investment, Equity Method 11 89,840 Gains, Interest, Dividends 1,351 813 Impairment on Investments - (876) Other Expenses, Principally Interest (653) (1,034) Total Other Income (Expense) 709 88,743 Pre-Tax Income 6,832 93,818 Income Tax Expense 2,206 36,452 Net Income $4,626 $57,366 Diluted Weighted Average Shares 20,137 19,187 Diluted Earnings Per Share $0.23 $2.99 CT Communications, Inc. Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited, in thousands) March 31, December 31, 2007 2006 ASSETS Cash and Cash Equivalents $13,662 $14,063 Short-Term Investments 82,467 86,741 Accounts Receivable and Unbilled Revenue, Net 15,644 16,419 Other Assets 14,927 11,775 Current Assets 126,700 128,998 Investments 7,589 10,960 Property, Plant and Equipment, Net 212,483 209,908 Other Assets 37,928 37,492 TOTAL ASSETS $384,700 $387,358 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Current Portion of Long-Term Debt $5,000 $5,000 Accounts Payable 9,083 12,553 Customer Deposits and Advance Billings 4,884 4,618 Other Accrued Liabilities 10,524 12,714 Current Liabilities 29,491 34,885 Long-Term Debt 33,750 35,000 Deferred Credits and Other Liabilities 38,966 38,095 Stockholders' Equity 282,493 279,378 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY $384,700 $387,358 CT Communications, Inc. Customer Information March 31, March 31, % 2007 2006 Change Wired Access Lines ILEC Access Lines 104,990 109,871 (4.4%) CLEC Access Lines 36,099 33,390 8.1% Greenfield Access Lines 16,797 15,324 9.6% Total Wired Access Lines 157,886 158,585 (0.4%) Broadband Customers * 28,665 22,426 27.8% Wireless Subscribers 49,806 47,145 5.6% Revenue Generating Units ILEC Residential Access Lines 76,684 81,630 (6.1%) Business Access Lines 28,306 28,241 0.2% Broadband Customers 24,117 19,114 26.2% Total ILEC 129,107 128,985 0.1% CLEC Business Access Lines 36,099 33,390 8.1% Broadband Customers 772 644 19.9% Total CLEC 36,871 34,034 8.3% Greenfield Residential Access Lines 11,035 10,328 6.8% Business Access Lines 5,762 4,996 15.3% Broadband Customers 3,776 2,668 41.5% Total Greenfield 20,573 17,992 14.3% Wireless Subscribers 49,806 47,145 5.6% Total Revenue Generating Units 236,357 228,156 3.6% * - Broadband customers include DSL and High Speed customers previously reported separately. CT Communications, Inc. Other Selected Financial Data (Unaudited, in thousands, except per share amounts) Capital Expenditures Three Months Ended March 31, 2007 2006 ILEC $7,552 $3,742 Wireless 264 196 CLEC 345 1,280 Greenfield 1,135 1,620 Other 1,207 149 Total $10,503 $6,987 Depreciation Three Months Ended March 31, 2007 2006 ILEC $5,155 $5,478 Wireless 693 635 CLEC 721 715 Greenfield 1,114 1,014 Other 225 278 Total $7,908 $8,120 Reconciliation of Prior Period Reported Results to Normalized Results For the quarter ended March 31, 2006 Fixed Investment Palmetto Asset Securities GAAP MobileNet* Impairment Impairment Normalized Operating Revenue $43,095 $- $- $- $43,095 Operating Expense 38,020 - (190) - 37,830 Operating Income 5,075 - 190 - 5,265 Other Income (Expense) 88,743 (88,939) - 876 680 Pre-Tax Income 93,818 (88,939) 190 876 5,945 Income Tax Expense 36,452 (34,508) 74 340 2,358 Net Income $57,366 $(54,431) $116 $536 $3,587 Diluted EPS $2.99 $(2.84) $0.01 $0.03 $0.19 * Equity income related to the March 2006 sale of PMN's ownership interests in ten wireless partnerships. DATASOURCE: CT Communications, Inc. CONTACT: Jim Hausman, +1-704-722-2410, or Ron Marino, +1-704-722-2212, both of CT Communications, Inc. Web site: http://www.ctc.net/

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