Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) today reports results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2022.

Dennis Mathew, Altice USA Chief Executive Officer, said: "In the full year 2022, we made great progress against our key initiatives and began to see the benefits of our increased investments, notably around our fiber network expansion, accelerated new build activity, execution of the Suddenlink rebrand to Optimum, improvements in customer care and growing our distribution channels. We are pleased with our momentum as demonstrated by the sequential improvement in our subscriber trends in the fourth quarter. Looking ahead, we have a clear strategy centered around growing our broadband and mobile businesses by delivering best-in-class customer and employee experiences and we are committed to executing with discipline, setting us on a path to return to sustainable customer, revenue, and cash flow growth."

Key Financial Highlights

• Total Revenue declined -6.0% YoY in Q4 2022 to $2.37 billion (-4.7% excluding air strand revenue⁽¹⁾), including Residential revenue decline of -5.0% YoY, Business Services revenue decline of -9.3% YoY (-0.4% excluding air strand revenue⁽¹⁾) and News & Advertising revenue decline of -10.8% YoY. Total revenue declined -4.4% YoY in FY 2022 (-3.2% excluding air strand revenue⁽¹⁾).
• Net income (loss) attributable to stockholders was ($193.1) million in Q4 2022 (($0.43)/share on a diluted basis) compared to $251.7 million in Q4 2021 ($0.56/share on a diluted basis). Net income attributable to stockholders was $194.6 million ($0.43/share on a diluted basis) in FY 2022 compared to net income of $990.3 million in FY 2021 ($2.14/share on a diluted basis).
• Net cash flows from operating activities were $461.2 million in Q4 2022, compared to $676.6 million in Q4 2021. Net cash flows from operating activities were $2.37 billion in FY 2022, compared to $2.85 billion in FY 2021.
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽²⁾ declined -15.7% YoY in Q4 2022 to $913.3 million (-12.8% excluding air strand revenue⁽¹⁾) with a margin of 38.6%. Adjusted EBITDA declined -12.7% YoY to $3.87 billion (-10.3% excluding air strand revenue⁽¹⁾) in FY 2022 with a margin of 40.1%.
• Cash capital expenditures of $543.2 million in Q4 2022 represented 22.9% of revenue and were up 40.5% YoY. Cash capital expenditures of $1.91 billion in FY 2022 represented 19.8% of revenue and were up 55.4% YoY mainly driven by accelerated fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) rollout and new builds (10.4% of revenue excluding FTTH and new builds).
• Operating Free Cash Flow⁽²⁾ decreased -46.9% YoY to $370.1 million in Q4 2022 and decreased -38.9% YoY to $1.95 billion in FY 2022.
• Free Cash Flow⁽²⁾ was ($82.0) million in Q4 2022 and $452.6 million in FY 2022.

Key Operational Highlights

• Fiber Broadband Primary Service Units (PSUs): Quarterly FTTH broadband net additions were +36k in Q4 2022, more than three times the growth compared to Q4 2021 (+11k). Fiber broadband net adds were +102k in FY 2022 driven by both higher fiber gross additions and increased migrations of existing customers. Total fiber broadband customers reached 172k as of the end of FY 2022.
• Total unique Residential customer relationships declined -2.9% YoY in Q4 2022. Quarterly unique Residential customer net losses in the quarter were -16k, compared to -13k in Q4 2021. Unique Residential customer net losses were -134k in FY 2022, compared to -51k organic net losses in FY 2021.
  • Residential Broadband PSUs: Quarterly Residential broadband net losses were -8k in Q4 2022, compared to -2k broadband net losses in Q4 2021. Residential broadband net losses were -103k in FY 2022, compared to -3k organic net losses in FY 2021.
  • Residential Video PSUs: Quarterly Residential video net losses were -53k in Q4 2022, compared to -71k video net losses in Q4 2021. Residential video net losses were -293k in FY 2022, compared to -241k organic net losses in 2021.
• Residential revenue declined -5.0% YoY in Q4 2022 to $1.82 billion. Residential revenue declined -4.0% YoY to $7.54 billion in FY 2022.
  • Residential revenue per customer relationship declined -2.2% YoY in Q4 2022 to $134.76. Residential revenue per customer declined -2.4% YoY in FY 2022 to $137.70, mostly due to the loss of higher ARPU video customers.
• Business Services revenue of $368.3 million was down -9.3% YoY in Q4 2022 due to the early termination of a backhaul contract for air strands which resulted in the recognition of deferred revenue and termination fees over the amended term in the prior year period. Excluding air strand revenue in the prior period, Business Services revenue was down -0.4% YoY⁽¹⁾. SMB / Other revenue was down -11.6% YoY in Q4 2022, or grew +0.2% YoY excluding air strand revenue⁽¹⁾. Lightpath revenue was down -1.9% YoY in Q4 2022. Business Services revenue was down -7.1% YoY in FY 2022, or grew +0.6% YoY excluding air strand revenue⁽¹⁾. SMB / Other revenue was down -9.3% YoY in FY 2022, or grew +1.0% YoY excluding air strand revenue⁽¹⁾. Lightpath revenue was down -0.3% YoY in FY 2022.
• News and Advertising revenue was down -10.8% YoY to $151.8 million in Q4 2022, or down -25.0% YoY excluding political revenue. FY 2022 revenue was down -5.5% YoY to $520.3 million, or down -10.5% excluding political revenue.
• Optimum Mobile has approximately 240k mobile lines⁽⁶⁾ as of December 31, 2022 (+4k mobile net additions in Q4 2022 and +54k net adds in FY 2022), reaching 5.6% penetration of the Company's residential broadband customer base.

Fiber Rollout, Multi-Gig Fiber Internet and Network Expansion Update

• Fiber (FTTH) rollout update: As of Q4 2022, the Company has 2.16 million FTTH passings, adding +251k new FTTH passings in the fourth quarter and adding +988k in FY 2022. This represents the highest amount of annual incremental FTTH passings to date (vs. +271k new passings in FY 2021, and +390k new passings in FY 2020).
• Rollout of Optimum 5 Gig and 2 Gig Fiber Internet service: In the last year the Company introduced both Optimum 5 Gbps (5 Gig) and 2 Gbps (2 Gig) Fiber Internet, with symmetrical data speeds up to 5 Gig and 2 Gig respectively. The new 5 Gig and 2 Gig Optimum Fiber Internet tiers are now available across Long Island and Connecticut in our fiber footprint. At the end of Q4 2022, 45% of the Company’s fiber passings had multi-gig speeds available.
• 1 Gbps (1 Gig) broadband speed sell-in to all new customers, where 1 Gig or higher services are available, was 40% in Q4 2022. Approximately 20% of the Residential broadband customer base currently take 1 Gig speeds, representing a significant growth opportunity for the Company.
• Broadband speeds taken on average have nearly doubled in the past three yearsto 402 Mbps in Q4 2022. Approximately 40% of the Company’s broadband customers remain on plans with download speeds of 200 Mbps or less, representing a sizable opportunity to continue to upgrade speeds. Broadband-only customer usage averaged 564 GB per month in Q4 2022, which is 22% higher than the average usage of the entire customer base (461 GB per month).
• New build activity update: the Company has been accelerating the pace of its network edge-outs, adding +49k passings in Q4 2022, and a total of +200k total passings in the last twelve months (LTM). The Company continues to see strong momentum in growing customer penetration, typically reaching approximately 40% within a year of rollout in new-build areas. The Company is targeting an incremental 150k+ new passings in FY 2023.

FY 2023 Capex Guidance

• The Company expects to continue to invest in key growth initiatives, with anticipated cash capex of approximately $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion in FY 2023.

Balance Sheet Review

As of December 31, 2022:

• Net debt for CSC Holdings, LLC Restricted Group was $22,921 million at the end of Q4 2022⁽⁷⁾, representing net leverage of 6.3x Adjusted EBITDA on a LTM basis, or 6.6x Adjusted EBITDA on a Last 2 Quarters Annualized (L2QA) basis. The weighted average cost of debt for CSC Holdings, LLC Restricted Group was 5.7% as of the end of Q4 2022 and the weighted average life was 5.7 years. The Company expects to return to a leverage target of 4.5x to 5.0x net debt / Adjusted EBITDA on a L2QA basis for its CSC Holdings, LLC debt silo over time.
• Net debt for Cablevision Lightpath LLC was $1,353 million at the end of Q4 2022⁽⁷⁾, representing net leverage of 6.0x LTM (5.7x L2QA). The weighted average cost of debt for Cablevision Lightpath LLC was 5.4% as of the end of Q4 2022 and the weighted average life was 5.1 years.
• Consolidated net debt for Altice USA was $24,240 million⁽⁷⁾, representing consolidated net leverage of 6.3x LTM (6.5x L2QA at the end of Q4 2022).

Successful Pricing of New Term Loan

On December 19, 2022, CSC Holdings entered into the thirteenth amendment under its existing credit facilities agreement (the "Thirteenth Amendment" or "Term Loan B-6"). The Term Loan B-6 provides for, among other things, new refinancing term loan commitments in an aggregate principal amount of $2.0 billion issued with an original issue discount of 200 basis points, with an extended maturity until the date that is the earlier of (i) January 15, 2028 and (ii) April 15, 2027 if, as of such date, any Term Loan B-5 borrowings are still outstanding, unless the Incremental Loan B-5 maturity date has been extended to a date falling after January 15, 2028.

Interest on the Term Loan B-6 will be calculated at a rate per annum equal to the Term SOFR rate or the alternate base rate, as applicable, plus the applicable margin, where the applicable margin is (i) with respect to any alternate base rate loan, 3.50% per annum and (ii) with respect to any Term SOFR loan, 4.50% per annum. The proceeds from the Term Loan B-6 were used to refinance (including by way of cashless roll) a portion of the Company's Term Loan B-1 and Term Loan B-3.

Shares Outstanding

As of December 31, 2022, the Company had 456,162,292 combined Class A and Class B shares outstanding.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures:

We define Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, as net income (loss) excluding income taxes, non-operating income or expenses, loss on extinguishment of debt and write-off of deferred financing costs, gain (loss) on interest rate swap contracts, gain (loss) on derivative contracts, gain (loss) on investments and sale of affiliate interests, interest expense, net, depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation, restructuring expense and other operating items (such as significant legal settlements, contractual payments for terminated employees, and impairments).

Adjusted EBITDA eliminates the significant non-cash depreciation and amortization expense that results from the capital-intensive nature of our business and from intangible assets recognized from acquisitions, as well as certain non-cash and other operating items that affect the period-to-period comparability of our operating performance. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA is unaffected by our capital and tax structures and by our investment activities.

We believe Adjusted EBITDA is an appropriate measure for evaluating the operating performance of the Company. Adjusted EBITDA and similar measures with similar titles are common performance measures used by investors, analysts and peers to compare performance in our industry. Internally, we use revenue and Adjusted EBITDA measures as important indicators of our business performance and evaluate management’s effectiveness with specific reference to these indicators. We believe Adjusted EBITDA provides management and investors a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our core business and operating results by excluding items that are not comparable across reporting periods or that do not otherwise relate to the Company’s ongoing operating results. Adjusted EBITDA should be viewed as a supplement to and not a substitute for operating income (loss), net income (loss), and other measures of performance presented in accordance with GAAP. Since Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of performance calculated in accordance with GAAP, this measure may not be comparable to similar measures with similar titles used by other companies.

We also use Operating Free Cash Flow (defined as Adjusted EBITDA less cash capital expenditures), and Free Cash Flow (defined as net cash flows from operating activities less cash capital expenditures) as indicators of the Company’s financial performance. We believe these measures are two of several benchmarks used by investors, analysts and peers for comparison of performance in the Company’s industry, although they may not be directly comparable to similar measures reported by other companies.

We revised our definition of Adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2022 to exclude the impact of significant legal settlements. This revision did not impact amounts reported in prior periods.

Numerical information is presented on a rounded basis using actual amounts. Minor differences in totals and percentage calculations may exist due to rounding.

About Altice USA

Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) is one of the largest broadband communications and video services providers in the United States, delivering broadband, video, mobile, proprietary content and advertising services to approximately 4.9 million residential and business customers across 21 states through its Optimum brand. The Company operates a4, an advanced advertising and data business, which provides audience-based, multiscreen advertising solutions to local, regional and national businesses and advertising clients. Altice USA also offers hyper-local, national, international and business news through its News 12, Cheddar News and i24NEWS networks.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements in this earnings release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, all statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this earnings release, including, without limitation, those regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things: our future financial conditions and performance, results of operations and liquidity; our strategy, objectives, prospects, capital expenditure plans, fiber deployment and network expansion and upgrade plans, distribution channel expansion plans and leverage targets; our ability to achieve operational performance improvements; and future developments in the markets in which we participate or are seeking to participate. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “should,” “target,” or “will” or, in each case, their negative, or other variations or comparable terminology. Where, in any forward-looking statement, we express an expectation or belief as to future results or events, such expectation or belief is expressed in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis, but there can be no assurance that the expectation or belief will result or be achieved or accomplished. To the extent that statements in this earnings release are not recitations of historical fact, such statements constitute forward-looking statements, which, by definition, involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements including risks referred to in our SEC filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 and previous reports on Form 10-Q. You are cautioned to not place undue reliance on Altice USA’s forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made. Altice USA specifically disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, as of any future date.

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