ATN International Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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April 27, 2023

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the ATN International First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Justin Vinikasa, Chief Financial Officer, please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Great. Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Today, We will review our Q1 2023 results. With me here is Michael Prior, ATN's Chief Executive Officer. Mike will provide an update on our business and strategy as well as a high level overview of our quarterly results.

Speaker 1

I'll then cover our financials and provide additional color where necessary. As a reminder, we released our Q1 results

Operator

press

Speaker 1

release last night after market closed. Investors can find the release and results presented for this call on our Investor Relations website. Before I turn the call over to Michael, I'd like to point out that this call, our Press release and the presentation contain forward looking statements concerning our current expectations, objectives and underlying assumptions regarding our future operating results. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described. Also in an effort to provide useful information to investors, our comments today include non GAAP financial measures.

Speaker 1

For details on these measures and reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures and for further information regarding the factors that may affect our future operating results, Please refer to our earnings release on our website at atni.com or through the 8 ks filings provided to the SEC. I'll now turn the call over to Michael for his prepared remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Justin, and thank you for joining us, everyone. I would like to start the call today with 3 key takeaways from our Q1 performance. 1, Our strategy is working and is driving growth in subscribers and footprint or addressable market. 2, adjusted EBITDA performance is improving in line with subscriber and revenue growth. And 3, Our 3 year outlook, as announced at the beginning of 2022, is tracking to plan.

Speaker 2

We expect revenue and EBITDA growth to ramp Bring us in line with the 3 year CAGRs we have forecast. At ETN, our central purpose is to provide connectivity for all. In doing so, we improve lives and communities and deliver lasting value for all our stakeholders. We go where the need is and where most of the larger telecommunications companies prefer not to go. To date, that includes the Caribbean, the rural and tribal lands of the U.

Speaker 2

S. Southwest and Alaska. Today, we are in the process of advancing initiatives to secure our vision and long term growth. We call these strategic initiatives Glass and Steel and First to Fire. They are core to our strategic 3 year plan, as I first outlined in the beginning of 2022.

Speaker 2

It is a plan with the intention to build a highly resilient customer base and average revenue per user or ARPU on the tale of relatively short term increases in capital expenditures. To accomplish our goals, We are currently investing in quality assets to expand our strong market position, which should bode well for the consistency of future cash flows. Internationally, we are investing in our 1st to fiber strategic initiative to expand our market leadership. Through this strategy, we are bringing fiber rich digital infrastructure to the Caribbean, expanding our network reach in growing markets Mike Cayman and Guyana and continually improving and strengthening our network and services in places like Bermuda and the U. S.

Speaker 2

Virgin Islands. These actions are providing us with several new growth levers and cash flow generators, while at the same time reducing the risk of customer churn. Domestically, in Alaska, our fiber expansion continued to all segments, business, carrier, wholesale and retail. And the team is accomplishing that while also working to improve Operating efficiency and margins. In the Lower forty eight, our glass and steel strategic initiatives is capitalizing on the changing needs of our wholesale mobile carrier customers to complement an effort to fill in the fiber and other connectivity gaps in the rural areas of the Southwestern and Western United States.

Speaker 2

The FirstNet contract with AT and T was the first pillar of this strategy, And we expect to enter into a similar arrangement with another national carrier in the current quarter. These partnerships with the national mobile carriers are a testament to our strong and reliable offerings, scalability, deep and broad local operating capabilities and brand reputation. As important, we are expanding our business and retail broadband operations in the region using government grants and anchor tenants wholesale or government customers to expand our high speed network and fixed line revenues. And as we discussed last quarter, the addition of Sacred Wind was intended to boost this effort. The early evidence is very positive with the team meshing well with their new colleagues and hitting the ground running with some and its associated customer additions.

Speaker 2

ATN's 1st quarter revenue reached the highest level in more than a decade. This quarter, we showed consistency of execution and were again rewarded with high levels of customer retention and progress on our key operational and financial metrics. We expect our customer revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth trends to continue throughout 2023. We're also working on augmenting this growth through improvements to the cost structure of several operations, such as by accelerating the removal of legacy network and operating costs. In total, we are enthusiastic about the durability of our revenue, Our financial flexibility and our long term growth prospects, we continue to track to our 3 year plan.

Speaker 2

To illustrate our progress in the quarter, we grew the homes passed by our broadband networks to about 736,000 at the end of the quarter, which was 21% higher than a year ago. This includes an additional 108,000 passed by fiber or other higher speed solutions. Our ongoing network investments also are reflected in our As of March 31, 2023, 55% of our more than 2 15,000 broadband subscribers were connected to our fiber or other higher speed networks, representing Growth of nearly 18% year over year in high speed data subscribers. We ended the quarter with more than 128,000 mobile subscribers in our international segment, and this is up 13% from a year ago, reflecting the success of our sales and marketing efforts and investments. As Justin will discuss, we saw positive results across both of our operating segments, including a strong performance in Alaska, fiber and broadband customer additions that I've just mentioned, and of course the mobile subscriber growth.

Speaker 2

Both in the Caribbean and in the U. S, most of our expansion work is in markets that we believe will continue to benefit from growing demand and positive secular tailwinds, putting us in an excellent position to benefit from this growth as we provide these communities with the connectivity capabilities that will help them thrive. An example of this work is our Avaya subsidiary in the U. S. Virgin Islands.

Speaker 2

We were just awarded a contract to bring high speed fiber based connectivity to all public schools in the territory. The project is 100% fiber based, delivering the fastest speeds and including an inter island fiber link between the 2 Department of Education Network Operations Centers, providing a critical additional layer of resilience for the school's connections. Notably, this public private initiative ensures that Territory benefits from a more digitized teaching and learning experience as it helps schools and libraries in obtaining of Affordable Internet Access and Telecommunications Services. In summary, we remain committed to providing connectivity for all. We are working to We are working to be first to fiber in those markets that are aligned with our established criteria and where we believe we can also develop strong first mover advantages.

Speaker 2

In addition, we continue to prioritize building and owning modern core digital communications infrastructure, consistent with our glass and steel strategy. Most importantly, as we execute towards These two strategic objectives underpinning our 3 year plan, we also are steadily expanding our overall broadband network and subscriber count. In turn, this should generate revenue growth with higher incremental operating margins, giving us confidence in our long term growth targets as well as our core financial objectives for this year. As Justin will expand upon momentarily, our financial position enables us And with that, I'll hand the call back over to you, Justin.

Speaker 1

Great. Thanks, Michael. With much focus these days on the financial climate, Inclusive of interest rates and access to capital, let me start by sharing a few words on our capital allocation strategy and how we expect the moves we're making today to expand ATN's success now and in the years ahead. ATN is in a strong competitive position given our solid balance sheet to make strategic investments in advanced connectivity as we set out to do last year. Our operations generate significant cash flow that provides ample liquidity to support continued investments in advancing our growth initiatives that Michael talked about early.

Speaker 1

We have a disciplined and balanced capital allocation strategy that will continue to adapt as we deploy capital to reward stockholders, including our quarterly dividends, Organic investments help secure future growth and our share buyback program. In addition, we'll work We maintain financial flexibility, allowing us to remain opportunistic in making investments that can accelerate or enhance our strategy and returns. All in, our plan works to better serve customers by establishing a first to market advantage, which in turn will provide durable financial results for years to come. This is a playbook we've deployed successfully in the past. We anticipate that temporarily heavy capital investment cycle will be followed by a substantial increase in monthly recurring revenues and free cash flow.

Speaker 1

Turning to our results for the quarter. Total consolidated revenues increased 8% As you can see in our company's slide presentation that we've added to our website along with some additional financial tables. Operating income improved $600,000 from $100,000 a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA was up 6 These improvements were primarily driven by continued strength in the international segment, Steady results in the domestic business as we benefited from the investments we've made in network expansion upgrades totaling more than $200,000,000 over the prior 2 years, as well as from the Sacred Wind acquisition, which closed in November of 2022. Turning now to our segment breakdown.

Speaker 1

In our International segment, revenues rose 4% in the quarter and adjusted EBITDA was up 5%. This increase was the product of continued growth in broadband and mobile subscribers and the associated revenue, partially offset by the previously announced step down in federal high cost support subsidies for the U. S. Virgin Islands. Our strength internationally continues to be driven by superior customer support and greater execution by the local teams to increase high speed data subscriber counts in ARPU.

Speaker 1

We also see continued positive growth in our mobile subscriber base and revenues as a result of strong sales and marketing efforts following our substantial network upgrades and expansions. While these marketing and sales efforts are delivering benefits, we are aware that overall expenses have room for improvement and we'll continue to monitor and make the necessary moves to balance subscriber and revenue growth and margins in this climate. In our U. S. Segment, revenues were up 12% in the quarter.

Speaker 1

Of note, our Alaskan Operations continue to perform well, producing a substantial top line contribution and strong operating cash flows. During the period, business and carrier services accounted for approximately 74% of the segment service revenues, mainly reflecting higher revenue performance from Alaska. This was partially offset by expected reduction in legacy wholesale Wireless revenue as we continue to reposition the Lower forty eight business around the glass and steel strategy and carrier managed service contracts that provide As part of our effort to reposition this business, We conducted a review of all the sites that were supporting our legacy roaming network. This review was aimed at determining what was necessary to The business in the future. As a result, we recorded restructuring charge of $2,900,000 in Q1 to exit sites that were no longer needed.

Speaker 1

Construction revenues, which align With the number of FirstNet sites completed in a given quarter and roughly equivalent to construction costs were also lower year on year. We expect to substantially complete this construction project in 2023 with a small number of sites being completed in early 2024. Based on the schedule today, we estimate that construction revenue will be in the range of $12,000,000 to $14,000,000 with approximately 70% to 75% of that revenue coming in the second half of twenty twenty three. Overall for the U. S.

Speaker 1

Segment, adjusted EBITDA was up 16% year on year, mainly due to the contribution of our expansion in Alaska and the Sacred Wind acquisition. ATN's total net loss for the quarter increased to 5,900,000 or a loss of $0.44 per share, mainly due to a $5,400,000 increase in interest expense over last year. We reported core CapEx for the quarter of $50,600,000 which includes $29,100,000 for our U. S. Segment and $21,500,000 for our International segment.

Speaker 1

Higher CapEx spending in the U. S. Includes investments in fiber builds in Alaska, infrastructure to support FirstNet and modest additional costs following the Safeguard acquisition. International segment spending largely includes the continued for the rest of the year compared to our Q1 pacing. Now turning to our balance sheet and cash flows.

Speaker 1

We ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $56,000,000 Net cash provided by operating activities was $16,000,000 In the quarter, we used approximately $27,000,000 of cash to fund various working capital items, including the reduction in CapEx payables and approved balances. At the end of the Q1, our total debt outstanding was $465,000,000 including $30,300,000 in debt from the Sacred Wind acquisition And $249,100,000 on Alaska Communications balance sheet. This figure excludes the 48 $1,000,000 related to the FirstNet customer receivable financing facility. With a consolidated net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 2.3 times, we're continuing to maintain our strong balance sheet as well as the flexibility needed to execute our fiber build strategy. Before we turn to our guidance, I want to note that as we shared last quarter, we changed how we Our adjusted EBITDA beginning in 2023 to be in line with most of our peers.

Speaker 1

We're excluding non cash stock based compensation and have provided a pro form a reconciliation table in our earnings release. For the Q1 of 2023, Stock based compensation was $1,800,000 compared with $1,500,000 in the same period last year. As detailed in our news release, our longer term outlook continues to track the plan. For 2023, our guidance The same with adjusted EBITDA in the range of $183,000,000 to $193,000,000 for the full year with somewhat more of that Year on year growth expected in the second half of the year. Capital expenditures is estimated to be in the range of $150,000,000 to 100 and $70,000,000 net of reimbursed amounts, primarily for network expansion and upgrades, which are expected to further drive Subscriber of revenue growth in the following periods.

Speaker 1

In summary, we delivered solid Financial results aligned to our plan, which we expect will yield durable recurring revenues and cash flow growth. We're benefiting from our established leadership across our markets and as well as from our ongoing network expansion, network upgrades and growth in our subscriber base. As we invest in our accordance with our 3 year plan, we're also building out our foundation in setting ATN up well for the long term. We look forward to continuing to deliver value Delivering value to all our stakeholders across our operations and updating everyone on our progress going forward. And with that, I'll I'll turn it back over to Michael for his

Speaker 2

remarks. Thank you, Justin. ATN continued to execute at a high level this quarter with steady momentum across our markets. Strategically, our market approach enables ATN to deliver a strong product suite to customers and to secure our market leadership by growing subscribers and revenue and reducing churn. Being the first to provide a community true high speed connectivity creates a unique opportunity to generate customer loyalty and build a strong base of revenue across all sectors, consumer, business and government, which in turn enhances operating cash flows and generate strong returns for our stakeholders.

Speaker 2

Looking ahead, we will continue to serve our customers well, advance our strategic broadband build outs and make progress toward our 3 year growth objectives. With that, operator, I'll hand it back to

Speaker 1

you to open up for questions, please. Thank

Operator

you. Our first question comes from the line of Ric Prentiss with Raymond James. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Thanks. Good morning, everybody. Good

Speaker 1

morning, Mike.

Speaker 3

Hey, I want to start first on first off. I think in my notes At year end call, you had mentioned you'd be substantially complete with FirstNet this year like you're still saying. I have written down that maybe there could have been 20 $7,000,000 of revenue and $23,000,000 from FirstNet was 2 thirds in the back half. How is that reconciled to what you said About $12,000,000 to $14,000,000 And what percent complete are you as we try and keep track of that? I know it's a low margin price.

Speaker 1

Yes. We were It was originally at that range. Some of that's going to fall into 2024 now and some of the site Construction may go away. So we are lowering that number down to the 12 to 14, again to be very back half of the year weighted.

Speaker 3

Right, right. So the total contract, which again is low margin, might be less than that $85,000,000 I think I've written that way back on?

Speaker 1

That is correct.

Speaker 3

Okay. And is there a way to kind of help us understand what percent complete you are right now? Is it kind of in that

Speaker 1

Yes, sorry. 75. Yes, I missed that. It's about 75% complete today. Okay.

Speaker 3

And obviously that is excluded from the guidance, the long term guidance Talked about ex construction. How about Sacred Wind? Is Sacred Wind included in that guidance? Because clearly Sacred Wind was not there In 2021, it was additive modestly in 2022, it was in Q1. So, is SABRIT win on top of that guidance or is it kind of get rolled into

Speaker 1

It gets rolled into it.

Speaker 3

Okay. And I think I remember Saferwind might have been bringing about $10,000,000 of annual EBITDA, is that fair?

Speaker 2

We did something like that last year.

Speaker 3

Any reason to think that would go down instead of up as you look to spend capital there?

Speaker 2

No, but it's really The full integration, so we don't really look at it that way. I mean, it's already sort of obscured, But, I mean, if you're trying to ascertain kind of what it brings in as it comes in, that's about right.

Speaker 3

Okay. Okay. And then the revenues were never disclosed, but it looks like the margins might be in that 50% plus range kind of ballpark ish, just given before integrating and adding it into the rest of the company?

Speaker 2

Yes, it's higher margin than the business that's going into. That's correct.

Speaker 3

Sure. Okay. Stepping back away from it, you mentioned you might be pursuing and So you might have a similar contract, the first net with the 2nd carrier. So is 2nd net going to be Similar low margin contract to get stuff out there and you get some other business off it or how should we think about what this second net, I know they probably don't want to be called that, but the second contract would

Speaker 2

be Yes, we are definitely not going to call it that. We'll talk more about it when it actually gets finalized. But just to give you an idea, the way of thinking about it, It's really the margins from the project itself are positive, the returns are positive, It looks attractive to us to do. But more importantly, when as we get sort of over the hump of sort of finishing off The vast majority of that old roaming business, it really releases us to optimize the business going forward. So that really we are really carrying 2 cost structures at the same time right now.

Speaker 2

So that's the main benefit that we see and it's a nice underpinning of long term Recurring revenue, as we continue to build out the fixed broadband revenue in the area.

Speaker 3

Okay. That would also be kind of a construction project that would be outside of guidance, I assume.

Speaker 2

Again, I think we'll talk more about it when there are details in the contract. I think it will be different in structure and P and L impact on FirstNet.

Speaker 3

Okay. Last one for me. Outlook and private valuations have remained diverged somewhat. Can you talk about what you're seeing in the marketplace as far as Public versus private valuations and any M and A thoughts on your side as far as anything that might be interesting to buy or interesting to sell?

Speaker 2

Yes, I think we do see the same. There are a lot of deals getting done still In the from infrastructure funds and traditional PE funds in the space and They are typically at multiples well in excess of how we're valued and other public companies are valued. And so that means it's harder for us to participate in bolt ons, But it also is kind of a validation of the value we've been building because we look at some of these Businesses that are being acquired and we like our infrastructure, we like our trajectory, we like our market position much better. So I think we're we will continue to look at things. We always consider things if they come across us, but it's It's not a core focus for us right now.

Speaker 2

We're really focused on executing this plan.

Speaker 3

Okay, very good. Thanks. Stay well guys.

Speaker 1

Yes. Thanks, Bert.

Operator

Thank you. And one moment for our next question. Our next question is going to be from the line of Greg Burns with Sidoti. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Good morning.

Speaker 2

Good morning.

Speaker 4

I know you're guiding for CapEx to step down to 10% to 15% range after 'twenty four. But how should we think about next year? Does it do you step down towards that level next year? Or does Does CapEx kind of stay elevated at what we're looking at this year, next year and then you kind of You know, stepped down more significantly in 2024?

Speaker 1

I think it's more significantly in 2024, but I think it would probably tend to That's down a bit next year as well on its way to a lower level in 2024. Okay. 25. Okay. Yes.

Speaker 4

Okay. And then With the international wireless growth, what is your market share there across some of your markets? And I'm just trying to get a sense of what the growth opportunity is there. And is the growth are you taking share from Anyone in particular in any markets or is it kind of greenfield growth?

Speaker 2

Yes. We don't give a market share statistic And I'm not going to do it now, but I can answer the second part of your question. We are taking share. So there's I think, I would say of our subscriber growth more to date is about taking share Then market growth.

Speaker 4

Okay. And then, I guess lastly on the domestic wireless business. So with this, the new Managed services contract, does the wholesale wireless component of your revenue, does that Now go to 0 or trend towards 0, are we completely converting all that revenue into kind of long term managed service contracts after this Dealer, for the most part, most of that revenue?

Speaker 2

It's really what we call carrier service revenue. So already Those roaming contracts appear under that line of carrier services revenues, but this would appear in the same line.

Speaker 4

Okay. All right.

Speaker 3

Thanks. I

Speaker 1

was just going to say, but generally, yes, they are replacing that wholesale roll.

Speaker 4

Okay, perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Hamed Khorsand with BWS Financial. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hey, good morning. Good morning, A follow-up on this to be announced contract. What kind of preparations are you taking as far as the roaming business is concerned with Towers, are there going to be more charges in Q2 as if you need to take towers offline? How would that work on

Speaker 1

the cost line? I think

Speaker 2

we right now, we think we've taken the charges that we would anticipate. So by and large, I think they are reflected in what we're doing now. And we are we would be continuing to use Our towers and sites, there will be some sites that we won't use, some new tower sites, But by and large, it will be reused.

Speaker 5

Okay. And then on the Alaska side, is there any seasonality in the business that you're seeing this year as far as the fiber build goes and adding on new customers?

Speaker 1

There's not a lot of seasonality in that business. I mean, there's definitely quarters. I mean, their numbers are big. So there's there are quarters Yes, tend to come in larger than others, but generally it's fairly straightforward. I mean, it could be for something that got delivered in Quarter as opposed to seasonality, I would say more.

Speaker 2

There is probably a slight from the residential fiber business. It's a little easier to sell And be active in the second, third quarter. Builds also Can tend to be easier to execute then, although we do both all year around.

Speaker 5

And now on the fiber build in Alaska, are you primarily focused on residential or are you seeing demand from commercial?

Speaker 2

All things. We're building continue to build vibrant towers. We're building Longer routes, government customers, but a lot of the sort of expansion And the capital spend that comes from that business has been lately disproportionately around the residential.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Yes.

Operator

Thank you. And one moment for our next question. And we have a follow-up question from the line of Ric Prentiss with Raymond James. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Here we got a few more in. Following up on Hamid's question, on the Sites that you reviewed and have taken a charge, how many sites are you left with? Are we down like in the 500 Site range, are we below the 500 site range, above 500 sites? How many sites are left?

Speaker 2

So we I'm not going to give you Precise number in sight, but let me just I think one thing maybe we were to be clear on that a lot of that restructuring cost It's operating costs, right? So it's elements of the business, including people that support Certain parts of the business. So some of it is sites, but some of it is people as well. So It is not material to our overall tower number though.

Speaker 3

But Can you give us a bread basket size about how many you've got? Because also we've always wondered why couldn't or wouldn't you maybe put Debt financing on the towers or position them for a potential sale someday depending on where things

Speaker 1

We own a couple of 100 towers in that. The sites are some towers that we still lease is part of that. But We did come down, I think it was like about 70 sites in the count through the restructuring.

Speaker 2

But a lot of that is emphasized was 3rd party sites.

Speaker 1

Yes, 3rd party sites, right. Yes, anything we own, we still

Operator

Thank you. I'm showing no further questions and I would like to turn the conference back over to Justin Benecost for any further remarks.

Speaker 2

Actually, I'll take it. This is Michael Breyer. So thank you, operator, and thank you all for joining us this morning. We're excited about the future given the essential nature of our offerings, the expansion of our network, our first mover advantages in underserved communities and the financial flexibility we have within our control.

Speaker 1

Thank you, everyone.

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