Little Rock-based Uniti Group's 3Q loss at $4.1M

Revenue on rise at tower owner

Graphs showing information about Uniti Group’s Third quarter
Graphs showing information about Uniti Group’s Third quarter

Uniti Group Inc. lost $4.1 million in the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, the Little Rock-based firm said Thursday.

That compared with a loss of $4 million last year for the same period.

The company, a spinoff from Little Rock-based Windstream, lost 2 cents a share, compared with a loss of 3 cents a share in the third quarter last year.

The 10 analysts who follow Uniti had estimated that the firm would post a profit of 2 cents a share in the quarter, according to a survey of the analysts by Thomson Reuters.

Uniti shares fell 65 cents, or 3.8 percent, to close Thursday at $16.37 in trading on the Nasdaq exchange. The third-quarter earnings were released after the market closed.

Uniti is a real estate investment trust that owns 4.8 million fiber strand miles, 468 wireless towers, and other communications real estate in the United States and Latin America.

The company had revenue of $245.2 million in the third quarter, compared with $200 million a year earlier.

Uniti continues to see growing demand for communication infrastructure products and services, Kenny Gunderman, Uniti's chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement.

"[We] expect this trend to grow for several years given the multi-year investment cycle required [to improve] network [density]," Gunderman said. "We are confident in our ability to further diversify our company and execute on our strategy."

Uniti Fiber's business did well in the quarter, Gunderman said.

Uniti Fiber's employees successfully managed through hurricanes in the southeast United States in the third quarter, maintaining high customer service levels with minimal disruptions, Gunderman said.

The hurricanes had a minimal financial effect on the company in the third quarter, he said.

"[But] the storms will impact some future construction projects and service activation schedules," Gunderman said.

Uniti had assets of $4.3 billion in the third quarter, an almost 30 percent increase over $3.3 billion in assets on Dec. 31.

Business on 11/03/2017

Upcoming Events