One-time Charges Drag On Windstream Earnings

After a year of acquisitions, Windstream Corp. posted a quarter that highlights its transitional status.

The Little Rock-based telecom and broadband provider reported first quarter net income of $23.5 million on revenue of $1.02 billion. One year ago, Windstream reported profits of $74.1 million on revenue of $847.9 million.

The company noted that it took one-time charges of $64 million for debt extinguishment and $6 million in after-tax merger and integration costs.

“I am very pleased with our performance in the first quarter and our solid start to 2011,” said CEO Jeff Gardner. “We delivered strong operating metrics on all fronts and we continued to show improvement in year-over-year revenue trends. We expect our year-over-year financial performance to improve throughout 2011 as a result of the investments we are making in our network and the additional synergies we will realize.”

Other quarterly highlights included:

• Produced $618 million in business and broadband revenue for the quarter, a 3.6 percent increase year-over-year on a pro forma basis
• Added 29,000 new broadband customers, bringing its total Internet customer base to 1.3 million, an increase of 6 percent year-over-year
• Experienced lowest access line loss in company history at 23,000 for the quarter, a 3.6 percent year-over-year decline in total access lines

Windstream completed its annual shareholders meeting today in Little Rock. The company has been transitioning to develop its computer and data hosting capabilities as well as expanding its resources in infrastructure for the nation’s wireless backbone.

Talk Business first reported this development in an exclusive interview with Gardner in February. You can link here to read more.