Tower company SpectraSite Inc. said it lost $1.8 million in the fourth quarter, as part of its results for the period and full year. The company also revised its 2005 outlook. In 2004, the company said it achieved record revenues and net cash provided by operating activities of $355.1 million and $141.1 million, respectively.
The company noted it has designated the periods prior to Jan. 31, 2003, as “predecessor company” and the periods subsequent to Jan. 31, 2003, as “reorganized company.” The company emerged from bankruptcy protection in early 2003.
The company said as a result of the implementation of fresh-start accounting, the financial statements of the reorganized company are not comparable with the predecessor company’s financial statements for prior periods. In addition, the company has reviewed certain non-cash items relating to its lease-accounting practices as a result of new Securities and Exchange Commission requirements.
SpectraSite is only the second tower company to release financials following the SEC accounting changes.
Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2004 totaled $91.1 million,compared with $81.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2003, representing an 11.8-percent increase. The company’s net loss stood at $1.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2004 vs. a net loss of $21.6 million during the fourth quarter of 2003.
Total revenues for 2004 stood at $355.1 million compared with $25.6 million for the one month ended Jan. 31, 2003, and $289.7 million for the 11 months ended Dec. 31, 2003.
The company is updating its outlook for 2005 interest expense to take into account a $300 million five-year interest-rate swap entered into Dec. 16, 2004, and the additional $100 million it borrowed Nov. 29, 2004, in conjunction with its $150 million accelerated stock buyback agreement. Taking into account these changes in the company’s capital structure, the updated range for 2005 interest expense is $45 million to $50 million from its previous range of $35 million to $40 million.
Global Signal Inc. said it recorded a fourth-quarter income of $4.1 million, amounting to a 34.4-percent leap from the same period in 2003 when it counted net income of $3.1 million.
These figures give its shareholders 8 cents per share for the quarter compared with 7 cents per share in the year-ago period.
For the full year, the tower operator posted net income of $6.9 million, or $1.04 per diluted common share.
The company said its net income before interest, income tax, depreciation, amortization and accretion, non-cash stock-based compensation expense and loss on early extinguishment of debt increased 48.3 percent to $29.5 million, or 55 cents per diluted common share.
The company recently acquired about 6,600 tower sites from Sprint Corp. for $1.2 billion.
“These communications sites generate a substantial amount of their revenue from wireless telephony and investment-grade tenants, and we believe they are located in high-growth areas,” said the company.
Crown Castle International said it has filed a request with the Securities and Exchange Commission to extend its March 16 deadline for its results for 15 days.
“Crown Castle has filed the extension in order to finalize corrections in the accounting treatment relating to certain lease accounting matters and to complete the preparation and review of its filing following its completion of a review of its lease accounting practices,” said the company.
Global Signal had put off its results to correct its leasing-accounting methods.
