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WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --
Financial and Business Highlights
Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CCOI) ("Cogent") today announced service revenue of $136.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019, an increase of 5.2% from the three months ended September 30, 2018 and an increase of 1.6% from the three months ended June 30, 2019. Foreign exchange negatively impacted service revenue growth from the three months ended June 30, 2019 to the three months ended September 30, 2019 by $0.2 million and negatively impacted service revenue growth from the three months ended September 30, 2018 to the three months ended September 30, 2019 by $1.1 million. On a constant currency basis, service revenue grew by 1.7% from the three months ended June 30, 2019 to the three months ended September 30, 2019 and grew by 6.0% from the three months ended September 30, 2018 to the three months ended September 30, 2019.
On-net service is provided to customers located in buildings that are physically connected to Cogent's network by Cogent facilities. On-net revenue was $99.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019; an increase of 2.0% from the three months ended June 30, 2019 and an increase of 6.0% over the three months ended September 30, 2018.
Off-net customers are located in buildings directly connected to Cogent's network using other carriers' facilities and services to provide the last mile portion of the link from the customers' premises to Cogent's network. Off-net revenue was $37.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019; an increase of 0.6% over the three months ended June 30, 2019 and an increase of 3.4% over the three months ended September 30, 2018.
GAAP gross profit is defined as total service revenue less network operations expense, depreciation and amortization and equity based compensation included in network operations expense. GAAP gross margin is defined as GAAP gross profit divided by total service revenue. GAAP gross profit increased by 11.6% from the three months ended September 30, 2018 to $61.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and increased by 2.1% from the three months ended June 30, 2019. GAAP gross margin was 45.0% for the three months ended September 30, 2019, 42.5% for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 44.8% for the three months ended June 30, 2019. Excise taxes, including Universal Service Fund fees, recorded on a gross basis and included in service revenue and cost of network operations expense were $4.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019, $3.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2019 and $3.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018.
Non-GAAP gross profit represents service revenue less network operations expense, excluding equity-based compensation and amounts shown separately (depreciation and amortization expense). Non-GAAP gross margin is defined as non-GAAP gross profit divided by total service revenue. Non-GAAP gross profit increased by 8.2% from the three months ended September 30, 2018 to $82.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and increased by 1.7% from the three months ended June 30, 2019. Non-GAAP gross profit margin was 59.9% for the three months ended September 30, 2019, 58.2% for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 59.8% for the three months ended June 30, 2019.
Net cash provided by operating activities increased by 5.3% from the three months ended September 30, 2018 to $33.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and decreased by 17.7% from the three months ended June 30, 2019.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 7.6% from the three months ended September 30, 2018 to $50.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and increased by 7.2% from the three months ended June 30, 2019. EBITDA margin was 36.9% for the three months ended September 30, 2019, 36.1% for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 34.9% for the three months ended June 30, 2019.
EBITDA, as adjusted, increased by 6.9% from the three months ended September 30, 2018 to $50.6 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and increased by 7.0% from the three months ended June 30, 2019. EBITDA, as adjusted, margin was 37.0% for the three months ended September 30, 2019, 36.4% for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 35.1% for the three months ended June 30, 2019.
Basic and diluted net income per share was $0.30 for the three months ended September 30, 2019, $0.18 for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and $0.16 for the three months ended June 30, 2019. Unrealized foreign exchange gains on Cogent's €135 million notes were $6.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019, or $0.13 per basic and diluted net income per share.
Total customer connections increased by 9.3% from September 30, 2018 to 85,692 as of September 30, 2019 and increased by 1.9% from June 30, 2019. On-net customer connections increased by 9.6% from September 30, 2018 to 73,870 as of September 30, 2019 and increased by 2.0% from June 30, 2019. Off-net customer connections increased by 7.5% from September 30, 2018 to 11,503 as of September 30, 2019 and increased by 1.6% from June 30, 2019.
The number of on-net buildings increased by 136 on-net buildings from September 30, 2018 to 2,771 on-net buildings as of September 30, 2019 and increased by 34 on-net buildings from June 30, 2019.
Appointment of New Directors of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc.
On November 4, 2019, Messrs. Richard Liebhaber and Timothy Weingarten resigned from the Board of Directors (the "Board") of Cogent. These resignations did not involve any disagreements with Cogent. Upon recommendation of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, the Board appointed Sheryl Kennedy and Carolyn Katz to serve as directors of Cogent, effective November 5, 2019.
Ms. Kennedy, age 64, is non-executive Chair of Promontory Financial Group Canada, an IBM Company that provides consulting services to the financial services industry. She is also Vice Chair of the Canadian Public Accountability Board and a Director of the CLS Group Holdings AG and CLS Bank International Board of Directors, serving on the Audit and Finance and the Nominating and Governance Committees. From 1994 to 2008 she was Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada and chaired the Markets Committee at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland from 2003 to 2006. She also served as Senior Advisor for International Strategy for Scotiabank in 2006. Prior to her time with the Bank of Canada, Kennedy worked in the Canadian federal Department of Finance and served as Finance Counsellor at the Canadian Embassy in Paris, France. Ms. Kennedy serves on the University of Waterloo Board of Governors and its Audit and Risk and Finance and Investment Committees, is a Trustee of the Anglican Church of Canada General Synod Pension Plan and is Vice Chair of the Mothers Matter Centre.
Ms. Katz, age 57, has served on the boards of several public and private companies since 2000. She has been a director of Vonage Holdings Corp (NYSE: VG) since 2014, where she is a member of the Audit and Compensation committees. From 2004 to 2017 she was also a director of American Tower Corporation, a provider of international communications infrastructure, where she was a member of the Audit committee. From 2002 to 2015 she was a director of NII Holdings, a multinational cellular telecommunications company, where she served as lead director, chair of the Audit committee and was a member of the Finance and Corporate Governance and Nominating committees. From 2000 to 2004 she was a director of Universal Access, serving on the Audit Committee. From 2000 to 2001 Ms. Katz served as a principal of Providence Equity Partners Inc., a private investment firm specializing in equity investments in telecommunications and media companies. From June 1984 to April 2000, she worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co., ending her tenure there as a managing director and co-head of Emerging Communications. She is a graduate of Princeton University.
Quarterly Dividend Increase Approved
On November 5, 2019, the Board approved a regular quarterly dividend of $0.64 per common share payable on December 9, 2019 to shareholders of record on November 22, 2019. This fourth quarter 2019 regular dividend represents a 3.2% increase of $0.02 per share from the third quarter 2019 regular dividend of $0.62 per share and an annual increase of 14.3% from the Q4 2018 dividend of $0.56 per share.
The payment of any future dividends and any other returns of capital will be at the discretion of the Board and may be reduced, eliminated or increased and will be dependent upon Cogent's financial position, results of operations, available cash, cash flow, capital requirements, limitations under Cogent's debt indenture agreements and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.
Extension of Share Buy-back Program
On November 5, 2019, the Board extended Cogent's share buy-back program to December 31, 2020.
Conference Call and Website Information
Cogent will host a conference call with financial analysts at 8:30 a.m. (ET) on November 7, 2019 to discuss Cogent's operating results for the third quarter of 2019 and to discuss Cogent's expectations for full year 2019. Investors and other interested parties may access a live audio webcast of the earnings call in the "Events" section of Cogent's website at www.cogentco.com/events. A replay of the webcast, together with the press release, will be available on the website following the earnings call.
About Cogent Communications
Cogent Communications (NASDAQ: CCOI) is a multinational, Tier 1 facilities-based ISP. Cogent specializes in providing businesses with high speed Internet access, Ethernet transport, and colocation services. Cogent's facilities-based, all-optical IP network backbone provides services in over 200 markets globally.
Cogent Communications is headquartered at 2450 N Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037. For more information, visit www.cogentco.com. Cogent Communications can be reached in the United States at (202) 295-4200 or via email at info@cogentco.com.
Schedules of Non-GAAP Measures
EBITDA and EBITDA, as adjusted
EBITDA represents net cash flows provided by operating activities plus changes in operating assets and liabilities, cash interest expense and cash income tax expense. Management believes the most directly comparable measure to EBITDA calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or GAAP, is net cash provided by operating activities. The Company also believes that EBITDA is a measure frequently used by securities analysts, investors, and other interested parties in their evaluation of issuers. EBITDA, as adjusted, represents EBITDA plus net gains (losses) on asset related transactions.
The Company believes that EBITDA, and EBITDA, as adjusted, are useful measures of its ability to service debt, fund capital expenditures and expand its business. EBITDA, and EBITDA, as adjusted are an integral part of the internal reporting and planning system used by management as a supplement to GAAP financial information. EBITDA, and EBITDA, as adjusted are not recognized terms under GAAP and accordingly, should not be viewed in isolation or as a substitute for the analysis of results as reported under GAAP, but rather as a supplemental measure to GAAP. For example, these metrics are not intended to reflect the Company's free cash flow, as it does not consider certain current or future cash requirements, such as capital expenditures, contractual commitments, and changes in working capital needs, interest expenses and debt service requirements. The Company's calculations of these metrics may also differ from the calculations performed by its competitors and other companies and as such, its utility as a comparative measure is limited.
EBITDA, and EBITDA, as adjusted, are reconciled to net cash provided by operating activities in the table below.
Constant currency revenue is reconciled to service revenue as reported in the tables below.
Constant currency impact on revenue changes – sequential periods
Constant currency impact on revenue changes – prior year periods
Non-GAAP gross profit and Non-GAAP gross margin
Non-GAAP gross profit and Non-GAAP gross margin are reconciled to GAAP gross profit and GAAP gross margin in the table below.
Gross and Net Leverage Ratios
Gross leverage ratio is defined as total debt divided by the trailing last 12 months EBITDA, as adjusted. Net leverage ratio is defined as total net debt (total debt minus cash and cash equivalents) divided by the trailing last 12 months EBITDA, as adjusted. Cogent's gross leverage ratio and net leverage ratio are shown below.
Except for historical information and discussion contained herein, statements contained in this release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to statements identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," "projects" and similar expressions. The statements in this release are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Cogent's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences, including future economic instability in the global economy or a contraction of the capital markets which could affect spending on Internet services and our ability to engage in financing activities; the impact of changing foreign exchange rates (in particular the Euro to USD and Canadian dollar to USD exchange rates) on the translation of our non-USD denominated revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities; legal and operational difficulties in new markets; the imposition of a requirement that we contribute to the US Universal Service Fund on the basis of our Internet revenue; changes in government policy and/or regulation, including net neutrality rules by the United States Federal Communications Commission and in the area of data protection; increasing competition leading to lower prices for our services; our ability to attract new customers and to increase and maintain the volume of traffic on our network; the ability to maintain our Internet peering arrangements on favorable terms; our reliance on an equipment vendor, Cisco Systems Inc., and the potential for hardware or software problems associated with such equipment; the dependence of our network on the quality and dependability of third-party fiber providers; our ability to retain certain customers that comprise a significant portion of our revenue base; the management of network failures and/or disruptions; and outcomes in litigation as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018. Cogent undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement or any information contained in this press release or in other public disclosures at any time.
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SOURCE Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc.
