Crown Castle International Corporation (CCI) has reported an 11.59 percent fall in profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. The company has earned $124.71 million, or $0.35 a share in the quarter, compared with $141.06 million, or $0.39 a share for the same period last year.
Revenue during the quarter grew 9.15 percent to $1,032.42 million from $945.84 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 183 basis points over the previous year period to 62.01 percent. Total expenses were 74.62 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 75.71 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 109 basis points in operating margin to 25.38 percent.
Operating income for the quarter was $262.04 million, compared with $229.74 million in the previous year period.
However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $574.60 million compared with $539.80 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin contracted 142 basis points in the quarter to 55.66 percent from 57.07 percent in the last year period.
"Our strong fourth quarter and full year 2016 results and increased Outlook for 2017 demonstrates our continued focus on executing for our customers," stated Jay Brown, Crown Castle’s chief executive officer. "During 2016, we increased our dividends per share by 8%, exceeding our long-term goal of 6% to 7% annual growth. With our recent acquisition of FiberNet, which closed in January, we now own approximately 40,000 towers and over 26,500 route miles of fiber in key metro markets throughout the US. We believe our extensive portfolio of shared wireless infrastructure positions us well to continue to serve our customers’ needs as they seek to upgrade and enhance network quality and capacity to meet increasing demand for wireless connectivity. We believe the expected substantial growth in demand for mobile data over the next several years provides us the opportunity to drive organic growth through higher utilization of our existing assets, while allowing us to deploy capital towards new assets that we expect will enhance long-term growth in our dividends per share."
For the first-quarter, Crown Castle International Corp projects revenue to be in the range of $851 million to $856 million. Crown Castle International Corp projects revenue to be in the range of $3,468 million to $3,498 million for financial year 2017. Crown Castle International Corp expects net income to be in the range of $88 million to $108 million for the first-quarter. For fiscal year 2017, Crown Castle International Corp expects net income to be in the range of $360 million to $410 million.
Operating cash flow remains almost stable
Crown Castle International Corporation has generated cash of $1,782.26 million from operating activities during the year, down 0.66 percent or $11.76 million, when compared with the last year.
The company has spent $1,410.23 million cash to meet investing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $1,959.73 million in the last year.
The company has spent $96.29 million cash to carry out financing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $935.48 million in the last year period.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $567.60 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, up 217.43 percent or $388.79 million from $178.81 million on Dec. 31, 2015.
Debt remains almost stable
Total debt of Crown Castle International Corporation remained almost stable for the quarter at $12,171.14 million, when compared with the last year period.
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