FairPoint Communications, Inc. (FRP) has reported 62.17 percent plunge in profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. The company has earned $16 million, or $0.59 a share in the quarter, compared with $42.31 million, or $1.56 a share for the same period last year. Revenue during the quarter went down marginally by 2.81 percent to $203.93 million from $209.82 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 31 basis points over the previous year period to 53.34 percent. Total expenses were 79.34 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 70.21 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 913 basis points in operating margin to 20.66 percent.
Operating income for the quarter was $42.14 million, compared with $62.51 million in the previous year period.
However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $64.92 million compared with $63.89 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin improved 138 basis points in the quarter to 31.83 percent from 30.45 percent in the last year period.
"Our continued focus on providing excellent customer service, investing strategically in the network and developing relevant new products and services resulted in a solid fourth quarter and fiscal 2016," said Paul H. Sunu, chief executive officer. "We managed expenses well, improved performance and increased average revenue per user to deliver Adjusted EBITDA and Unlevered Free Cash Flow within our guidance ranges."
Operating cash flow improvesFairPoint Communications, Inc. has generated cash of $134.25 million from operating activities during the year, up 19.87 percent or $22.25 million, when compared with the last year. The company has spent $118.46 million cash to meet investing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $115.87 million in the last year.
The company has spent $7.43 million cash to carry out financing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $7.16 million in the last year period.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $34.92 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, up 31.49 percent or $8.36 million from $26.56 million on Dec. 31, 2015.
Working capital turns positive
Working capital of FairPoint Communications, Inc. has turned positive to $7.27 million on Dec. 31, 2016 from negative $4.09 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Current ratio was at 1.06 as on Dec. 31, 2016, up from 0.97 on Dec. 31, 2015.
Debt remains almost stable
Total debt of FairPoint Communications, Inc. remained almost stable for the quarter at $907.31 million, when compared with the last year period. Total debt was 73.71 percent of total assets as on Dec. 31, 2016, compared with 68.71 percent on Dec. 31, 2015. Interest coverage ratio deteriorated to 2.03 for the quarter from 3.01 for the same period last year. Disclaimer: Please note that this is an auto-generated article. IRIS does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. IRIS especially states that it has no financial liability whatsoever to any user on account of the use of information provided on its website. For queries contact: editor@irisindia.net
