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SBA increases revenues, narrows loss

BOCA RATON, Fla.-SBA Communications Corp. announced its second-quarter results Monday, reporting revenues of $63.2 million, a 12.2-percent increase from the second quarter of 2004 when the company reported revenues of $56.3 million. However, the firm reported a net loss of $26.3 million, or 38 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $26.6 million, or 47 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

SBA, which owned 3,138 towers across the United States as of June 30, stated its site-leasing revenue grew 10 percent compared with last year’s second quarter and its tower cash flow increased 15 percent. Site leasing contributed 95.4 percent of the company’s total segment quarterly operating profit, SBA said.

The company wrote off $8.2 million related to deferred financing fees and extinguishment of debt charges.

In the third quarter, the company expects revenues to land between $62.5 million and $66.5 million, and by the end of 2005, the company said it expects to report full-year revenues of between $246 million and $256 million.

“We are very pleased with our second-quarter results,” said Jeffrey A. Stoops, president and chief executive at SBA. “Our customers were very busy in the quarter, and we experienced the strongest operational lease-up we have had since the first quarter of 2002. We ended the quarter with solid backlog in both our leasing and services segments, and we believe that customer activity and backlogs will remain solid into 2006. We also performed well on the expense side of our leasing business and added towers to our portfolio. As a result, we have increased the mid-point of our full-year outlook for 2005 in a number of areas, including site-leasing revenue, tower cash flow and adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). We materially improved our balance sheet in the quarter through our issuance of 8 million shares of common stock and the redemption of a portion of our 9.75-percent senior discount notes. We continue to be focused on refinancing our senior credit facility by the end of 2005. Our focus for the refinancing is in the mortgage-backed securities market, and we will continue to monitor opportunities in other markets as appropriate. We remain very optimistic about our prospects for a solid operational second half of 2005 and a stronger financial position as we enter 2006.”

SBA stock opened at $15.75 per share on the NASDAQ exchange today, 50 cents lower than at the close Monday, when it traded at $16.25 per share.

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