Liberty Latin America announced its financial and operating results for the three months (“Q4”) and fiscal year (“2019” or “FY 2019”) ended December 31, 2019. CEO Balan Nair commented, “Our fourth quarter results rounded off a record year of subscriber additions for Liberty Latin America. Our region remains underpenetrated by high-speed connectivity and we leveraged our leading propositions to add 76,000 fixed and 57,000 mobile subscribers in the fourth quarter, taking our total additions for the year to 283,000 and 124,000 subscribers, respectively.”
“During the year, we drove down the cost of network expansion while adding or upgrading nearly 500,000 homes across our footprint, which was approximately 50% higher than our activity in the prior year. Our mobile network coverage and capacity also grew with LTE population coverage now above 90%. Although we added or upgraded more homes than anticipated at the start of the year and spent additional capital related to Hurricane Dorian, we still achieved our capital expenditure guidance for the year.”
“The speeds our customers experience over our networks have increased and we believe our unique combination of subsea, terrestrial fiber, and mobile networks position us well to bring the best value connectivity and entertainment propositions to communities across our region.”
“For the year, we reported $3.9 billion in revenue, $354 million of operating income and $1.54 billion in OCF. Our results reflect year-over-year rebased revenue and OCF growth, of 2% and 4%, respectively, while operating income grew by $378 million. Our focus remains on Adjusted FCF3 generation, which was significantly higher than our 2018 performance and exceeded our $150 million guidance target.”
“Overall, we have progressed our strategic objectives through improved operational execution, transformation of our business practices and accretive M&A transactions in 2019. As we look to 2020, we are focused on continuing to deliver this organic momentum and making a successful start in integrating the AT&T assets in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, following completion of the transaction. These steps should set the foundation for continued growth and Adjusted FCF development in the coming years.”
Business Highlights
• C&W reports significant operational improvements and OCF margin expansion: Record RGU additions of 43,000 in Q4 and 140,000 in FY 2019, up 45% YoY; Jamaican FY 2019 mobile additions of 139,000 fuel C&W's best performance since 2016; Focus on cost base helped drive 40% OCF margin for FY 2019, 100 bps improvement YoY.
• VTR/Cabletica robust and resilient performance: Continued broadband strength with FY 2019 RGU additions of 87,000; Achieved new build / upgrade target of 200,000 homes in Chile; Solid financial performance with rebased revenue growth of 3% and OCF growth of 5%.
• Liberty Puerto Rico continuing to grow: Added 47,000 RGUs in 2019, fueled by broadband growth; Leading network and customer service; innovation such as Hub TV to support future growth; FY OCF above $200 million; Q4 rebased growth impacted by 2018 insurance settlements.
LLA 2020 Financial Guidance (Excluding AT&T assets in PR and USVI): Low to mid-single digit percentage rebased OCF growth; P&E additions as a percentage of revenue at ~18%; and ~$150 million of Adjusted FCF.