ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Liberty Global, Inc. (“Liberty Global,” “LGI,” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ:LBTYA - News) (NASDAQ:LBTYB - News) (NASDAQ:LBTYK - News), today announces financial and operating results for the second quarter (“Q2”) ended June 30, 2008. Highlights for the quarter compared to the results for the same period last year (unless noted), include: Revenue increased 25% to $2.73 billion Operating Cash Flow (“OCF”)1 increased 34% to $1.15 billion OCF margin2 expanded to 42.3% in Q2, a 280 basis point improvement Organic telephony and broadband internet adds totaled 320,000, in-line with Q2 ‘07 Total organic RGU3 additions of 249,000 in Q2 Net earnings of $428 million as compared to a loss in Q2 ‘07 Free Cash Flow (“FCF”)4 improved to $318 million from $42 million in Q2 ‘07 Repurchased $1.6 billion of equity YTD, resulting in a 12% decrease in shares outstanding this year, and a reduction of approximately 35% over the last three yearsPresident and CEO Mike Fries said, “Our results reflect a number of positive trends but also the continuation of certain operational challenges, particularly in some of our European markets. For the first six months of 2008, we achieved rebased5 revenue and OCF growth rates of 6% and 14%, respectively. Our OCF growth for the period was consistent with our expectation, however, our revenue growth was below forecast. We are actively working on certain competitive challenges, particularly in Austria, Hungary and Romania. Excluding those markets, our year-to-date rebased revenue and OCF growth would have improved to over 7% and 16%, respectively. Recent operational initiatives are expected to show positive effects over the coming quarters. On the back of UPC Broadband’s (“UPC”) increased digital cable revenue and consistent levels of voice and data additions, we are seeing signs of revenue stabilization at UPC. Despite these positive developments, we believe it is prudent to lower our 2008 financial targets by 1%, resulting in guidance for full year rebased revenue growth of 6-8% and rebased OCF growth of 13-15%.”
“During the second quarter, we repurchased approximately $845 million of our equity, bringing our 2008 total to $1.6 billion. Over the last three years, we have returned over $5.2 billion to our shareholders through buybacks and, as a result, our shares outstanding have been reduced by approximately 35%. Supporting our conviction to repurchase our equity is our growth in operating cash flow and also free cash flow, the latter of which was $445 million through the six months ended June 30, up nearly 350% over the comparable 2007 period. Our continued prospects for OCF and FCF growth provide us with the confidence to pursue our leveraged equity strategy. As a result, our Board of Directors recently authorized a new $500 million share repurchase program. We remain committed to our equity and to the extent that the market continues to undervalue our company, we look forward to capitalizing on that opportunity for the benefit of shareholders.”
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