Sprint Reports Highest Q1 Postpaid Net Additions In Nine Years; Loss Widens

(RTTNews) - Sprint Corp. (S) reported the highest fiscal first quarter postpaid phone net additions in nine years with 173,000 in the quarter compared to net losses of 12,000 in the prior year quarter. The company said 185,000 year-over-year improvement was driven by both better acquisition and retention, as postpaid phone gross additions were up 10 percent year-over-year and postpaid phone churn of 1.39 percent improved 10 basis points to reach the lowest level in company history.

Sprint reported a first-quarter net loss of $302 million or $0.08 per share compared to a loss of $20 million or $0.01 per share, previous year. The company noted that its current quarter included $113 million of non-recurring contract termination charges primarily related to the termination of the pre-existing wholesale arrangement with Ntelos Holding Corp. Adjusted EBITDA was $2.5 billion in the quarter, grew 18 percent from the prior year period, primarily because of expense reductions, including over $550 million in cost of services and SG&A expenses.

Total net operating revenues were $8.01 billion compared to $8.03 billion, a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report revenue of $8.69 billion, for the quarter. Wireless net operating revenues grew 1 percent year-over-year and postpaid wireless service revenues have remained at $4.8 billion for the last three quarters.

Sprint said it made considerable progress in ongoing effort to transform the cost structure of the business, as the company realized over $550 million year-over-year reduction in cost of services and SG&A expenses. The company remains on track to achieve its goal of a sustainable reduction of $2 billion or more of run rate operating expenses exiting fiscal year 2016.

Sprint CEO, Marcelo Claure, said: "We had another quarter of solid progress in our turnaround with the highest first quarter postpaid phone net additions in nine years, the lowest postpaid phone churn in company history, and finally being postpaid net port positive against all three national carriers after five years. We also grew wireless net operating revenue year-over-year while aggressively reducing the cash operating expenses of the business and our network is performing better than ever."

For fiscal 2016, the company continues to expect: operating income of $1 billion to $1.5 billion; adjusted EBITDA of $9.5 billion to $10 billion; cash capital expenditures, excluding devices leased through indirect channels, of approximately $3 billion; and adjusted free cash flow around break-even.