Liberty Latin America Reports Fiscal 2018 Results
- Rebased Revenue Growth of 2% to $3.7 billion
- Record Broadband Additions Drive Total RGU Growth of 192,000
- Operating Loss of $24 million, Improved by 86% Year-over-Year
- OCF1 of $1.5 billion, 8%Higher YoY; Growth Across All Segments
- Launching Scalable Operations Center in Panama in 2019
- Delivered 2018 Guidance for all Financial and Operating Metrics
Denver, Colorado – February 20, 2019: Liberty Latin America Ltd. ("Liberty Latin America" or "LLA") (NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK, OTC Link: LILAB) today announced its financial and operating results for the three months ("Q4") and fiscal year ("2018" or "FY2018") ended December 31, 2018.
CEO Balan Nair commented, "In our first year as a separately listed company, we successfully established a strong team and culture, delivered all of our 2018 financial guidance targets and created great operational momentum heading into 2019."
"Our region remains under penetrated by high-speed connectivity. During 2018, we continued to expand our leading fixed networks by either upgrading or adding approximately 330,000 premises to our footprint. The combination of this growing network and our leading product offerings helped us achieve our highest RGU additions since we acquired C&W, led by a record number of broadband additions."
"LTE penetration across the group's mobile businesses also grew during the year, as we added 435,000 LTE subscribers. We launched our 'Moments that Move Us' brand campaigns in Cable & Wireless and saw improvement in mobile subscriber results as we moved through the fourth quarter into January. Our B2B growth continued as we leveraged our unique and extensive combination of mobile, terrestrial and subsea networks to deliver a comprehensive and growing suite of B2B and B2G solutions, more than offsetting any headwinds from legacy products."
"In terms of our financial performance, we delivered rebased OCF growth of 8%in 2018, as we focused on driving efficiencies and benefited from insurance settlements. Looking ahead to 2019, we are targeting robust OCF growth, reduced capital intensity and substantially higher Adjusted FCF2."
"In 2018, we completed two accretive acquisitions, in Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, and reviewed a number of other opportunities. We are committed to remaining disciplined and diligent in evaluating potential transactions as we focus on creating shareholder value."
"Our value creation strategy also includes driving operating and cost efficiencies. During 2018, we started our digital transformation initiative, and recently announced plans to launch our operations center in Panama, which will enable us to better capitalize on our scale and knowledge across our footprint."
"Overall, I am pleased with our 2018 performance and excited by the opportunities ahead as we look to leverage our operating model and unique asset base to generate sustainable OCF and Adjusted FCF growth."