Windstream Reports Quarterly Loss Amid Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Windstream, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, reported a $549 million loss, and a more than $100 million drop in revenue and sales for the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to the same quarter in 2017.

Revenue and sales totaled nearly $1.4 billion, down from $1.5 billion for the year-ago quarter. The communications giant reported a $1.8 billion net loss for the year-ago quarter.

For 2018, revenue and sales totaled $5.7 billion compared to $5.8 billion in 2017. The company reported a loss of $723 million for the year compared to $2.1 billion in 2017.

Windstream filed for bankruptcy protection after losing its court battle with Aurelius Capital Management, a Windstream bondholder, and earlier this month its stock was delisted from Nasdaq.

Windstream’s Tony Thomas

Windstream’s next bankruptcy court hearing is April 16.

“Overall, we had a strong, transformational year in 2018,” said Tony Thomas, Windstream’s president and CEO. “We continue to benefit from investments in our network infrastructure that enable us to deliver faster internet speeds to more customers. We have delivered 12 consecutive months of broadband subscriber growth through February of this year, and we expect that growth to continue throughout the year.”

Windstream said its enterprise segment continued to see strong growth in strategic products and services, which represent about $180 million in annualized revenue and are growing at about 70 percent year-over-year. Windstream has more than 1,800 SD-WAN customers in more than 15,000 locations nationwide.

“As we enter 2019, we will continue to focus on improving our sales productivity, reducing churn across all of our business units, improving the customer experience and maintaining our laser focus on aggressive cost management and operational efficiencies,” Thomas said. “We are confident we will emerge from the financial restructuring process as a healthier and even stronger company than we are today, and we are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead of us.”

Service revenue was nearly $1.4 billion in the quarter, down from nearly $1.5 billion a year ago. Consumer and small business ILEC service revenues were $455 million, a 4 percent decrease from the year-ago quarter.

Enterprise service revenue was $704 million, down 7 percent from the year-ago quarter. Wholesale service revenue was $175 million, down 7 percent.

CLEC consumer service revenue was $43 million, a drop of 17 percent.