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Cable One, Inc. - Quarter Report: 2020 June (Form 10-Q)

cabo20200630_10q.htm
 

 

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-Q

 

(Mark One)

QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the quarterly period ended June 30, 2020

 

or

 

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

Commission File Number: 001-36863

 


 

Cable One, Inc. 

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 


 

Delaware

 

13-3060083

(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)

 

(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

  

210 E. Earll Drive, Phoenix, Arizona

 

85012

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

 

(Zip Code)

 

(602) 364-6000

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Title of Each Class

 

Trading Symbol

 

Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered

Common Stock, par value $0.01

 

CABO

 

New York Stock Exchange

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☑ No ☐

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☑ No ☐

 

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filer

 

Accelerated filer

  

 

 

 

Non-accelerated filer

 

Smaller reporting company

 

 

 

 
  

Emerging growth company

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes ☐ No ☑

 

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock as of the latest practicable date:

 

Description of Class Shares Outstanding as of July 31, 2020
Common stock, par value $0.016,020,339

 

 

 

 

CABLE ONE, INC.

FORM 10-Q

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

PART I:  FINANCIAL INFORMATION

1

   

Item 1.     Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

1

   

Item 2.     Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

18

   

Item 3.     Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

30

   

Item 4.     Controls and Procedures

31

   

PART II: OTHER INFORMATION

31

   

Item 1.     Legal Proceedings

31

   

Item 1A.  Risk Factors

31

   

Item 2.     Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

34

   

Item 3.     Defaults Upon Senior Securities

34

   

Item 4.     Mine Safety Disclosures

35

   

Item 5.     Other Information

35

   

Item 6.     Exhibits

35

   

SIGNATURES

36

 

References herein to “Cable One,” “us,” “our,” “we” or the “Company” refer to Cable One, Inc., together with its wholly owned subsidiaries.

 

 

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

This document contains “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections about our industry, business, strategy, dividend policy, financial results and financial condition as well as anticipated impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company and future responses. Forward-looking statements often include words such as “will,” “should,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “expects,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes” and words and terms of similar substance in connection with discussions of future operating or financial performance. As with any projection or forecast, forward-looking statements are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Our actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking statement made by us or on our behalf. Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements include government regulation, economic, strategic, political and social conditions and the following factors, which are discussed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 (the “2019 Form 10-K”) and this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q:

 

 

the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows;

 

rising levels of competition from historical and new entrants in our markets;

 

recent and future changes in technology;

 

our ability to continue to grow our business services products;

 

increases in programming costs and retransmission fees;

 

our ability to obtain hardware, software and operational support from vendors;

 

the effects of any acquisitions and strategic investments by us;

 

risks that our rebranding may not produce the benefits expected;

 

damage to our reputation or brand image;

 

risks that the implementation of our new enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) system disrupts business operations;

 

adverse economic conditions;

 

the integrity and security of our network and information systems;

 

the impact of possible security breaches and other disruptions, including cyber-attacks;

 

our failure to obtain necessary intellectual and proprietary rights to operate our business and the risk of intellectual property claims and litigation against us;

 

our ability to retain key employees (who we refer to as associates);

 

legislative or regulatory efforts to impose network neutrality and other new requirements on our data services;

 

additional regulation of our video and voice services;

 

our ability to renew cable system franchises;

 

increases in pole attachment costs;

 

changes in local governmental franchising authority and broadcast carriage regulations;

 

the potential adverse effect of our level of indebtedness on our business, financial condition or results of operations and cash flows;

 

the restrictions the terms of our indebtedness place on our business and corporate actions;

 

the possibility that interest rates will rise, causing our obligations to service our variable rate indebtedness to increase significantly;

 

our ability to incur future indebtedness;

 

fluctuations in our stock price;

 

our ability to continue to pay dividends;

 

dilution from equity awards and potential stock issuances;

 

provisions in our charter, by-laws and Delaware law that could discourage takeovers and limit the judicial forum for certain disputes and the liabilities for directors; and

 

the other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including but not limited to in our 2019 Form 10-K and this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

 

Any forward-looking statements made by us in this document speak only as of the date on which they are made. We are under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, except as required by law, to update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events or otherwise.

 

 

PART I:  FINANCIAL INFORMATION

 

 

ITEM 1.     CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

CABLE ONE, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(Unaudited)

 

(dollars in thousands, except par values)

 

June 30, 2020

  

December 31, 2019

 

Assets

        

Current Assets:

        

Cash and cash equivalents

 $642,552  $125,271 

Accounts receivable, net

  41,351   38,452 

Income taxes receivable

  14,263   2,146 

Prepaid and other current assets

  19,638   15,619 

Total Current Assets

  717,804   181,488 

Property, plant and equipment, net

  1,233,419   1,201,271 

Intangible assets, net

  1,290,106   1,312,381 

Goodwill

  429,597   429,597 

Other noncurrent assets

  72,524   27,094 

Total Assets

 $3,743,450  $3,151,831 
         

Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity

        

Current Liabilities:

        

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities

 $152,840  $136,993 

Deferred revenue

  25,333   23,640 

Current portion of long-term debt

  28,945   28,909 

Total Current Liabilities

  207,118   189,542 

Long-term debt

  1,699,525   1,711,937 

Deferred income taxes

  303,353   303,314 

Interest rate swap liability

  184,182   78,612 

Other noncurrent liabilities

  25,726   26,857 

Total Liabilities

  2,419,904   2,310,262 
         

Commitments and contingencies (refer to note 14)

          
         

Stockholders' Equity

        

Preferred stock ($0.01 par value; 4,000,000 shares authorized; none issued or outstanding)

  -   - 

Common stock ($0.01 par value; 40,000,000 shares authorized; 6,175,399 and 5,887,899 shares issued; and 6,019,834 and 5,715,377 shares outstanding as of June 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively)

  62   59 

Additional paid-in capital

  527,641   51,198 

Retained earnings

  1,085,793   980,355 

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

  (162,242)  (68,158)

Treasury stock, at cost (155,565 and 172,522 shares held as of June 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively)

  (127,708)  (121,885)

Total Stockholders' Equity

  1,323,546   841,569 

Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity

 $3,743,450  $3,151,831 

 

See accompanying notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

 

 

CABLE ONE, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(Unaudited)

 

   

Three Months Ended

   

Six Months Ended

 
   

June 30,

   

June 30,

 

(dollars in thousands, except per share data)

 

2020

   

2019

   

2020

   

2019

 

Revenues

  $ 328,303     $ 285,650     $ 649,499     $ 564,255  

Costs and Expenses:

                               

Operating (excluding depreciation and amortization)

    106,028       95,688       211,956       190,206  

Selling, general and administrative

    64,994       60,103       127,878       121,546  

Depreciation and amortization

    65,584       54,835       130,863       108,679  

(Gain) loss on asset sales and disposals, net

    988       910       (4,633 )     2,013  

Total Costs and Expenses

    237,594       211,536       466,064       422,444  

Income from operations

    90,709       74,114       183,435       141,811  

Interest expense

    (16,615 )     (18,516 )     (35,289 )     (36,612 )

Other income (expense), net

    1,655       (9,632 )     3,389       (7,830 )

Income before income taxes

    75,749       45,966       151,535       97,369  

Income tax provision

    13,209       9,571       19,669       22,235  

Net income

  $ 62,540     $ 36,395     $ 131,866     $ 75,134  
                                 

Net Income per Common Share:

                               

Basic

  $ 10.72     $ 6.41     $ 22.87     $ 13.24  

Diluted

  $ 10.63     $ 6.35     $ 22.66     $ 13.13  

Weighted Average Common Shares Outstanding:

                               

Basic

    5,831,796       5,673,669       5,764,850       5,673,893  

Diluted

    5,883,417       5,730,238       5,819,633       5,723,296  
                                 

Unrealized loss on cash flow hedges and other, net of tax

  $ (9,459 )   $ (33,970 )   $ (94,084 )   $ (63,039 )

Comprehensive income

  $ 53,081     $ 2,425     $ 37,782     $ 12,095  

 

See accompanying notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

 

 

CABLE ONE, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(Unaudited)

 

          

Additional

      

Accumulated

Other

  

Treasury

  

Total

 

 

 

Common Stock

  

Paid-In

  

Retained

  Comprehensive  

Stock,

  

Stockholders’

 

(dollars in thousands, except per share data)

 

Shares

  

Amount

  

Capital

  

Earnings

  Loss  

at cost

  

Equity

 

Balance at March 31, 2020

  5,724,857  $59  $54,419  $1,036,877  $(152,783) $(127,681) $810,891 

Net income

  -   -   -   62,540   -   -   62,540 

Unrealized loss on cash flow hedges and other, net of tax

  -   -   -   -   (9,459)  -   (9,459)

Equity-based compensation

  -   -   3,426   -   -   -   3,426 

Issuance of common stock

  287,500   3   469,796   -   -   -   469,799 

Issuance of equity awards, net of forfeitures

  7,494   -   -   -   -   -   - 

Withholding tax for equity awards

  (17)  -   -   -   -   (27)  (27)

Dividends paid to stockholders ($2.25 per common share)

  -   -   -   (13,624)  -   -   (13,624)

Balance at June 30, 2020

  6,019,834  $62  $527,641  $1,085,793  $(162,242) $(127,708) $1,323,546 

 

          

Additional

      Accumulated Other   

Treasury

  

Total

 
  

Common Stock

  

Paid-In

  

Retained

  Comprehensive   

Stock,

  

Stockholders’

 

(dollars in thousands, except per share data)

 

Shares

  

Amount

  

Capital

  

Earnings

  Loss   

at cost

  

Equity

 

Balance at March 31, 2019

  5,699,330  $59  $41,919  $877,644  $(29,165) $(121,422) $769,035 

Net income

  -   -   -   36,395   -   -   36,395 

Unrealized loss on cash flow hedges and other, net of tax

  -   -   -   -   (33,970)  -   (33,970)

Equity-based compensation

  -   -   3,082   -   -   -   3,082 

Issuance of equity awards, net of forfeitures

  7,495   -   -   -   -   -   - 

Withholding tax for equity awards

  (13)  -   -   -   -   (210)  (210)

Dividends paid to stockholders ($2.00 per common share)

  -   -   -   (11,424)  -   -   (11,424)

Balance at June 30, 2019

  5,706,812  $59  $45,001  $902,615  $(63,135) $(121,632) $762,908 

 

          

Additional

      

Accumulated

Other

  

Treasury

  

Total

 
  

Common Stock

  

Paid-In

  

Retained

  Comprehensive   

Stock,

  

Stockholders’

 

(dollars in thousands, except per share data)

 

Shares

  

Amount

  

Capital

  

Earnings

  Loss   

at cost

  

Equity

 

Balance at December 31, 2019

  5,715,377  $59  $51,198  $980,355  $(68,158) $(121,885) $841,569 

Net income

  -   -   -   131,866   -   -   131,866 

Unrealized loss on cash flow hedges and other, net of tax

  -   -   -   -   (94,084)  -   (94,084)

Equity-based compensation

  -   -   6,647   -   -   -   6,647 

Issuance of common stock

  287,500   3   469,796   -   -   -   469,799 

Issuance of equity awards, net of forfeitures

  20,746   -   -   -   -   -   - 

Withholding tax for equity awards

  (3,789)  -   -   -   -   (5,823)  (5,823)

Dividends paid to stockholders ($4.50 per common share)

  -   -   -   (26,428)  -   -   (26,428)

Balance at June 30, 2020

  6,019,834  $62  $527,641  $1,085,793  $(162,242) $(127,708) $1,323,546 

 

          

Additional

      

Accumulated

Other

  

Treasury

  

Total

 
  

Common Stock

  

Paid-In

  

Retained

  Comprehensive   

Stock,

  

Stockholders’

 

(dollars in thousands, except per share data)

 

Shares

  

Amount

  

Capital

  

Earnings

  Loss  

at cost

  

Equity

 

Balance at December 31, 2018

  5,703,402  $59  $38,898  $850,292  $(96) $(113,795) $775,358 

Lease accounting standard adoption cumulative adjustment

  -   -   -   8   -   -   8 

Net income

  -   -   -   75,134   -   -   75,134 

Unrealized loss on cash flow hedges and other, net of tax

  -   -   -   -   (63,039)  -   (63,039)

Equity-based compensation

  -   -   6,103   -   -   -   6,103 

Issuance of equity awards, net of forfeitures

  12,717   -   -   -   -   -   - 

Repurchases of common stock

  (5,984)  -   -   -   -   (5,073)  (5,073)

Withholding tax for equity awards

  (3,323)  -   -   -   -   (2,764)  (2,764)

Dividends paid to stockholders ($4.00 per common share)

  -   -   -   (22,819)  -   -   (22,819)

Balance at June 30, 2019

  5,706,812  $59  $45,001  $902,615  $(63,135) $(121,632) $762,908 

 

See accompanying notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

 

 

CABLE ONE, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(Unaudited)

 

  

Six Months Ended June 30,

 

(in thousands)

 

2020

  

2019

 

Cash flows from operating activities:

        

Net income

 $131,866  $75,134 

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:

 

Depreciation and amortization

  130,863   108,679 

Amortization of debt issuance costs

  2,212   2,409 

Equity-based compensation

  6,647   6,103 

Write-off of debt issuance costs

  -   4,207 

Increase in deferred income taxes

  30,827   11,647 

(Gain) loss on asset sales and disposals, net

  (4,633)  2,013 

Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of effects from acquisitions:

        

(Increase) decrease in accounts receivable, net

  (2,899)  901 

(Increase) decrease in income taxes receivable

  (12,117)  8,020 

Increase in prepaid and other current assets

  (4,019)  (6,999)

Increase (decrease) in accounts payable and accrued liabilities

  (3,387)  5,004 

Increase (decrease) in deferred revenue

  1,693   (198)

Other, net

  (4,858)  (4,426)

Net cash provided by operating activities

  272,195   212,494 
         

Cash flows from investing activities:

        

Purchase of business, net of cash acquired

  -   (356,917)

Purchase of equity investment

  (27,245)  - 

Capital expenditures

  (143,416)  (110,488)

Decrease in accrued expenses related to capital expenditures

  (740)  (5,410)

Proceeds from sales of property, plant and equipment

  617   6,998 

Issuance of note and other receivables

  (7,288)  - 

Net cash used in investing activities

  (178,072)  (465,817)
         

Cash flows from financing activities:

        

Proceeds from equity issuance

  488,750   - 

Proceeds from long-term debt borrowings

  100,000   825,000 

Payment of equity issuance costs

  (18,951)  - 

Payment of debt issuance costs

  -   (11,671)

Payments on long-term debt

  (114,390)  (691,180)

Repurchases of common stock

  -   (5,073)

Payment of withholding tax for equity awards

  (5,823)  (2,764)

Dividends paid to stockholders

  (26,428)  (22,819)

Net cash provided by financing activities

  423,158   91,493 
         

Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

  517,281   (161,830)

Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period

  125,271   264,113 

Cash and cash equivalents, end of period

 $642,552  $102,283 
         

Supplemental cash flow disclosures:

        

Cash paid for interest, net of capitalized interest

 $32,700  $34,687 

Cash paid for income taxes, net of refunds received

 $840  $3,001 

 

See accompanying notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

 

CABLE ONE, INC.

NOTES TO THE CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(Unaudited)

 

 

1.

DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

 

Description of Business. Cable One is a fully integrated provider of data, video and voice services to residential and business subscribers in 21 Western, Midwestern and Southern U.S. states. As of June 30, 2020, Cable One provided service to approximately 962,000 residential and business customers, of which approximately 838,000 subscribed to data services, 290,000 subscribed to video services and 133,000 subscribed to voice services.

 

On January 8, 2019, the Company acquired Delta Communications, L.L.C. (“Clearwave”) for a purchase price of $358.8 million in cash on a debt-free basis. On October 1, 2019, the Company acquired Fidelity Communications Co.’s data, video and voice business and certain related assets (collectively, “Fidelity”) for a purchase price of $531.4 million in cash on a debt-free basis. Refer to note 2 for details on these transactions.

 

Basis of Presentation. The condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes thereto have been prepared in accordance with: (i) generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) for interim financial information; and (ii) the guidance of Rule 10-01 of Regulation S-X under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), for financial statements required to be filed with the SEC. As permitted under such guidance, certain notes and other financial information normally required by GAAP have been omitted. Management believes the condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all normal and recurring adjustments necessary for a fair statement of the Company’s financial position, results of operations and cash flows as of and for the periods presented herein. These condensed consolidated financial statements are unaudited and should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in the 2019 Form 10-K.

 

The December 31, 2019 year-end balance sheet data presented herein was derived from the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements included in the 2019 Form 10-K, but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. The Company’s interim results of operations may not be indicative of its future results.

 

Certain reclassifications have been made to prior period amounts to conform to the current year presentation.

 

Principles of Consolidation. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company, including its subsidiaries. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

 

Segment Reporting. Accounting Standard Codification (“ASC”) 280 - Segment Reporting requires the disclosure of factors used to identify an entity’s reportable segments. Historically, the Company’s operations were organized and managed on the basis of its geographic divisions. Effective in the second quarter of 2020, as a result of progress made in the Company’s staged rebranding initiative and the further alignment of service offerings and product pricing of recently acquired operations with its legacy business, the Company reevaluated the chief operating decision maker’s review and assessment of the Company’s operating performance for purposes of performance monitoring and resource allocation. The Company determined that its operations, including the decisions to allocate resources and deploy capital, are organized and managed on a consolidated basis and are not based on any predetermined geographic division. Accordingly, management has identified one operating segment, which is its reportable segment, under this organizational and reporting structure.

 

Use of Estimates. The preparation of the condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported herein. Management bases its estimates and assumptions on historical experience and on various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Due to the inherent uncertainty involved in making estimates, actual results reported in future periods may be affected by changes in those estimates and underlying assumptions.

 

Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets. The Company’s unit of account for its franchise agreements was historically established at the geographic division level. The Company reevaluates the unit of account used to test for impairment periodically or whenever events or substantive changes in circumstances occur to ensure impairment testing is performed at an appropriate level. Effective in the second quarter of 2020, as a result of progress made in the Company’s staged rebranding initiative and the further alignment of service offerings and product pricing of recently acquired operations with its legacy business, the Company reevaluated the basis of its franchise agreements unit of account for use in impairment assessments and identified a single unit of account for its franchise agreements based on a reevaluation of the Company’s current operations and the use of its assets.

 

5

 

Goodwill. The Company tests goodwill for impairment at the reporting unit level, which was historically established at the geographic division level. The Company reevaluates the determination of its reporting units used to test for impairment periodically or whenever events or substantive changes in circumstances occur. Effective in the second quarter of 2020, as a result of progress made in the Company’s staged rebranding initiative and the further alignment of service offerings and product pricing of recently acquired operations with its legacy business, the Company reevaluated the basis of its goodwill reporting units and identified four geographic divisions that were aggregated into a single goodwill reporting unit based on the chief operating decision maker’s current performance monitoring and resource allocation process and the economic similarity of the four divisions.

 

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements. In August 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2018-15, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other – Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract. ASU 2018-15 aligns the requirements for capitalizing implementation, setup and other upfront costs incurred in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract with the requirements for capitalizing such costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software. The ASU specifies which costs are to be expensed and which are to be capitalized, the period over which capitalized costs are to be amortized, the process for identifying and recognizing impairment and the proper presentation of such costs within the consolidated financial statements. The Company adopted the updated guidance on January 1, 2020 on a prospective basis. The adoption of this ASU has resulted in the capitalization of $4.6 million of costs that will be amortized over the life of the applicable hosting arrangement. Amortization of such costs will be included in operating or selling, general and administrative expenses upon implementation, rather than depreciation and amortization expense, within the consolidated financial statements.

 

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. ASU 2016-13 requires companies to recognize an allowance for expected lifetime credit losses through earnings concurrent with the recognition of a financial asset measured at amortized cost. The estimate of expected credit losses is required to be adjusted each reporting period over the life of the financial asset. The ASU was effective January 1, 2020 and required adoption on a modified retrospective basis. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

 

Recently Issued But Not Yet Adopted Accounting Pronouncements. In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting. ASU 2020-04 provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying GAAP to contracts, hedging relationships and other transactions that reference London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) and other reference rates expected to be discontinued at the end of 2021. The ASU may be adopted at any time through December 31, 2022. The Company currently holds certain debt and interest rate swaps that reference LIBOR. The Company plans to adopt ASU 2020-04 when the contracts underlying such instruments are amended as a result of reference rate reform, which is expected to occur prior to the end of 2021. The Company is currently evaluating the expected impact of the adoption of this guidance on its consolidated financial statements.

 

In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes. ASU 2019-12 removes certain exceptions related to intraperiod tax allocations, foreign subsidiaries and interim reporting that are present within existing GAAP. The ASU also provides updated guidance regarding the tax treatment of certain franchise taxes, goodwill and nontaxable entities, among other items. In addition, ASU 2019-12 clarifies that the effect of a change in tax laws or rates should be reflected in the annual effective tax rate computation during the interim period that includes the enactment date. The ASU is effective for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2020, with early adoption permitted. Certain provisions must be adopted on prescribed retrospective, modified retrospective and prospective bases, while other provisions may be adopted on either a retrospective or modified retrospective basis. The Company is currently evaluating its timing and method, where applicable, of adoption as well as the expected impact on its consolidated financial statements.

 

6

 

 

2.

ACQUISITIONS

 

The change in carrying value of goodwill as a result of the Clearwave and Fidelity acquisitions during 2019 was as follows (in thousands):

 

  

Goodwill

 

Balance at December 31, 2018

 $172,129 

Clearwave acquisition goodwill recognized

  185,885 

Fidelity acquisition goodwill recognized

  71,583 

Balance at December 31, 2019

 $429,597 

 

Clearwave. On January 8, 2019, the Company acquired Clearwave, a facilities-based service provider that owns and operates a high-capacity fiber network offering dense regional coverage in Southern Illinois for a purchase price of $358.8 million. The Clearwave acquisition provides the Company with a premier fiber network within its existing footprint, further enables the Company to supply its customers with enhanced business services solutions and provides a platform to allow the Company to replicate Clearwave’s strategy in several of its other markets.

 

A summary of the allocation of the Clearwave purchase price consideration as of the acquisition date, reflecting all measurement period adjustments recorded in 2019, is as follows (in thousands):

 

   

Purchase Price

Allocation

 

Assets Acquired

       

Cash and cash equivalents

  $ 1,913  

Accounts receivable

    1,294  

Prepaid and other current assets

    311  

Property, plant and equipment

    120,472  

Intangible assets

    89,700  

Other noncurrent assets

    3,533  

Total Assets Acquired

  $ 217,223  
         

Liabilities Assumed

       

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities

  $ 2,128  

Deferred revenue, short-term portion

    4,322  

Deferred income taxes

    32,771  

Other noncurrent liabilities

    5,057  

Total Liabilities Assumed

  $ 44,278  
         

Net assets acquired

  $ 172,945  

Purchase price consideration

    358,830  

Goodwill recognized

  $ 185,885  

 

The measurement period ended on January 7, 2020, and no measurement period adjustments were recorded during 2020.

 

Fidelity. On October 1, 2019, the Company acquired Fidelity, a provider of data, video and voice services to residential and business customers throughout Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas for a purchase price of $531.4 million. Cable One and Fidelity share similar strategies, customer demographics and products. The Fidelity acquisition provides the Company opportunities for revenue growth and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“Adjusted EBITDA”) margin expansion as well as the potential to realize cost synergies.

 

7

 

A summary of the allocation of the Fidelity purchase price consideration as of the acquisition date, reflecting all measurement period adjustments recorded in 2019, was as follows (in thousands):

 

   

Preliminary

Purchase Price

Allocation

 

Assets Acquired

       

Cash and cash equivalents

  $ 4,869  

Accounts receivable

    3,691  

Prepaid and other current assets

    1,756  

Property, plant and equipment

    173,904  

Intangible assets

    288,000  

Other noncurrent assets

    1,895  

Total Assets Acquired

  $ 474,115  
         

Liabilities Assumed

       

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities

  $ 8,795  

Deferred revenue, short-term portion

    1,796  

Other noncurrent liabilities

    3,715  

Total Liabilities Assumed

  $ 14,306  
         

Net assets acquired

  $ 459,809  

Purchase price consideration

    531,392  

Goodwill recognized

  $ 71,583  

 

No measurement period adjustments were recorded during the six months ended June 30, 2020. The measurement period will end on September 30, 2020.

 

 

3.

REVENUES

 

Revenues by product line and other revenue-related disclosures were as follows (in thousands):   

 

  

Three Months Ended June 30,

  

Six Months Ended June 30,

 
  

2020

  

2019

  

2020

  

2019

 

Residential

                

Data

 $164,015  $132,824  $319,005  $262,635 

Video

  87,328   84,033   172,650   167,836 

Voice

  12,120   10,705   24,547   20,329 

Business services

  58,469   49,759   116,331   96,903 

Other

  6,371   8,329   16,966   16,552 

Total revenues

 $328,303  $285,650  $649,499  $564,255 
                 

Franchise and other regulatory fees

 $6,615  $6,240  $12,963  $10,337 

Deferred commission amortization

 $1,338  $942  $2,699  $1,942 

 

Other revenues are comprised primarily of advertising sales, customer late charges and reconnect fees.

 

Fees imposed on the Company by various governmental authorities, including franchise fees, are passed through on a monthly basis to the Company’s customers and are periodically remitted to authorities. As the Company acts as principal, these fees are reported in video and voice revenues on a gross basis with corresponding expenses included within operating expenses in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

 

Commission amortization expense is included within selling, general and administrative expenses in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

 

Current deferred revenue liabilities consist of refundable customer prepayments, up-front charges and installation fees. As of June 30, 2020, the Company’s remaining performance obligations pertain to the refundable customer prepayments and consist of providing future data, video and voice services to customers. Of the $23.6 million of current deferred revenue at December 31, 2019, nearly all was recognized during the six months ended June 30, 2020. Noncurrent deferred revenue liabilities consist of up-front charges and installation fees from business customers.

 

 

4.

OPERATING ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

 

Accounts receivable consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

  

June 30, 2020

  

December 31, 2019

 

Trade receivables

 $46,092  $33,467 

Other receivables

  4,658   6,186 

Less: Allowance for credit losses

  (9,399)  (1,201)

Total accounts receivable, net

 $41,351  $38,452 

 

8

 

Net accounts receivable from contracts with customers totaled $36.7 million and $32.3 million at June 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively.

 

The change in the allowance for credit losses were as follows (in thousands):

 

  

Three Months Ended June 30,

  

Six Months Ended June 30,

 
  

2020

  

2019

  

2020

  

2019

 

Beginning balance

 $2,997  $951  $1,201  $2,045 

Additions - charged to costs and expenses

  5,956   1,124   8,075   2,693 

Deductions - write-offs

  (966)  (2,250)  (3,239)  (7,003)

Recoveries of amounts previously written off

  1,412   1,341   3,362   3,431 

Ending balance

 $9,399  $1,166  $9,399  $1,166 

 

Prepaid and other current assets consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

  

June 30, 2020

  

December 31, 2019

 

Prepaid repairs and maintenance

 $5,762  $551 

Prepaid insurance

  31   1,548 

Prepaid rent

  2,070   1,499 

Prepaid software

  3,428   4,672 

Deferred commissions

  3,879   3,586 

All other current assets

  4,468   3,763 

Total prepaid and other current assets

 $19,638  $15,619 

 

Other noncurrent assets consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

  

June 30, 2020

  

December 31, 2019

 

Operating lease right-of-use assets

 $14,523  $16,924 

Equity investments(1)

  34,974   206 

Deferred commissions

  5,339   5,042 

Note and other receivables(2)

  7,288   - 

Software implementation costs

  4,569   - 

Debt issuance costs

  2,149   2,427 

All other noncurrent assets

  3,682   2,495 

Total other noncurrent assets

 $72,524  $27,094 

 


(1)

Balance at June 30, 2020 includes a $27.2 million equity investment in a fixed wireless provider made during the three months ended June 30, 2020.

(2)

Balance at June 30, 2020 represents a note and other receivables issued to Wisper ISP, LLC, a wireless internet service provider (“Wisper”). In July 2020, the Company closed an equity investment in Wisper for total consideration of $25.3 million. Refer to note 7 for details on this transaction.

 

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

  

June 30, 2020

  

December 31, 2019

 

Accounts payable

 $32,654  $36,351 

Accrued programming costs

  20,849   19,620 

Accrued compensation and related benefits

  21,768   23,189 

Accrued sales and other operating taxes

  11,990   9,501 

Accrued franchise fees

  3,904   4,201 

Subscriber deposits

  6,771   6,550 

Operating lease liabilities

  4,031   4,601 

Interest rate swap liability

  30,347   11,045 

Accrued insurance costs

  7,074   6,174 

Cash overdrafts

  3,718   5,801 

All other accrued liabilities

  9,734   9,960 

Total accounts payable and accrued liabilities

 $152,840  $136,993 

 

9

 

Other noncurrent liabilities consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

  

June 30, 2020

  

December 31, 2019

 

Operating lease liabilities

 $9,533  $11,146 

Accrued compensation and related benefits

  6,568   7,154 

Deferred revenue

  5,287   5,514 

All other noncurrent liabilities

  4,338   3,043 

Total other noncurrent liabilities

 $25,726  $26,857 

 

 

5.

PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

 

Property, plant and equipment consisted of the following (in thousands):  

 

  

June 30, 2020

  

December 31, 2019

 

Cable distribution systems

 $1,854,449  $1,779,964 

Customer premise equipment

  279,742   266,190 

Other equipment and fixtures

  458,851   444,799 

Buildings and improvements

  116,265   113,331 

Capitalized software

  103,096   99,988 

Construction in progress

  98,472   93,352 

Land

  13,371   13,361 

Right-of-use assets

  10,268   10,187 

Property, plant and equipment, gross

  2,934,514   2,821,172 

Less: Accumulated depreciation and amortization

  (1,701,095)  (1,619,901)

Property, plant and equipment, net

 $1,233,419  $1,201,271 

 

Depreciation and amortization expense for property, plant and equipment was $54.5 million and $50.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and $108.6 million and $100.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

 

In January 2019, a portion of the Company’s previous headquarters building and adjoining property was sold for $6.3 million in gross proceeds and the Company recognized a related gain of $1.6 million.

 

 

6.

GOODWILL AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS

 

The carrying amount of goodwill was $429.6 million at both June 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019. The Company has not historically recorded any impairment of goodwill.

 

 

Intangible assets consisted of the following (dollars in thousands):   

 

       

June 30, 2020

  

December 31, 2019

 
  

Useful Life

Range

(in years)

  

Gross

Carrying

Amount

  

Accumulated

Amortization

  

Net

Carrying

Amount

  

Gross Carrying Amount

  

Accumulated

Amortization

  

Net

Carrying

Amount

 

Finite-Lived Intangible Assets

                             

Franchise renewals

 125  $2,927  $2,927  $-  $2,927  $2,895  $32 

Customer relationships

 1417   362,000   59,213   302,787   362,000   37,470   324,530 

Trademarks and trade names

 2.73   4,300   2,052   2,248   4,300   1,552   2,748 

Total finite-lived intangible assets

      $369,227  $64,192  $305,035  $369,227  $41,917  $327,310 
                              

Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets

                             

Franchise agreements

              $978,371          $978,371 

Trade name

               6,700           6,700 

Total indefinite-lived intangible assets

              $985,071          $985,071 
                              

Total intangible assets, net

              $1,290,106          $1,312,381 

 

10

 

Intangible asset amortization expense was $11.1 million and $4.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and $22.3 million and $8.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

 

The future amortization of existing finite-lived intangible assets as of June 30, 2020 was as follows (in thousands):

 

Year Ending December 31,

  

Amount

 

2020 (remaining six months)

 $22,159 

2021

  39,059 

2022

  34,314 

2023

  27,845 

2024

  23,083 

Thereafter

  158,575 

Total

 $305,035 

 

Actual amortization expense in future periods may differ from the amounts above as a result of intangible asset acquisitions or divestitures, changes in useful life estimates, impairments or other relevant factors.

 

 

7.

DEBT

 

The carrying amount of long-term debt consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

  

June 30, 2020

  

December 31, 2019

 

Senior Credit Facilities (as defined below)

 $1,738,884  $1,753,045 

Finance lease liabilities

  5,794   5,943 

Total debt

  1,744,678   1,758,988 

Less: Unamortized debt issuance costs

  (16,208)  (18,142)

Less: Current portion of long-term debt

  (28,945)  (28,909)

Total long-term debt

 $1,699,525  $1,711,937 

 

The second amended and restated credit agreement among the Company and its lenders (the “Credit Agreement”) provides for senior secured term loans in original aggregate principal amounts of $700 million (the “Term Loan A-2”), $500 million (the “Term Loan B-1”), $250 million (the “Term Loan B-2”) and $325 million (the “Term Loan B-3”) as well as a $350 million revolving credit facility that will mature on May 8, 2024 (the “Revolving Credit Facility” and, together with the Term Loan A-2, the Term Loan B-1, the Term Loan B-2 and the Term Loan B-3, the “Senior Credit Facilities”). The Revolving Credit Facility also gives the Company the ability to issue letters of credit, which reduce the amount available for borrowing under the Revolving Credit Facility. Refer to the table below summarizing the Company’s outstanding term loans and note 9 to the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements included in the 2019 Form 10-K for further details on the Company’s Senior Credit Facilities.

 

In January 2020, the Company issued letters of credit totaling $22.0 million under the Revolving Credit Facility on behalf of Wisper to guarantee its performance obligations under a Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) broadband funding program. The fair value of the letters of credit approximates face value based on the short-term nature of the agreements. The Company would be liable for up to $22.0 million if Wisper were to fail to satisfy all or some of its performance obligations under the FCC program. Wisper pledged certain assets in favor of the Company as collateral for issuing the letters of credit, which pledge was terminated in the third quarter of 2020 at the same time that the Company closed an equity investment in Wisper, and Wisper has agreed to guarantee and indemnify the Company in connection with such letters of credit. As of June 30, 2020, the Company has assessed the likelihood of non-performance associated with the guarantee to be remote, and therefore, no liability has been accrued within the condensed consolidated balance sheet.

 

In March 2020, the Company borrowed $100 million under the Revolving Credit Facility for general corporate purposes, including for small acquisitions and strategic investments. The outstanding balance was repaid in full in May 2020 using a portion of the net proceeds from the Company’s public offering of common stock (the “Public Offering”). Refer to note 10 for information on the Public Offering. Letter of credit issuances under the Revolving Credit Facility totaled $28.7 million at June 30, 2020 and were held for the benefit of performance obligations under government grant programs and certain general and liability insurance matters and bore interest at a rate of 1.63% per annum. As of June 30, 2020, the Company had $1.7 billion of aggregate outstanding term loans and $321.3 million available for borrowing under the Revolving Credit Facility.

 

11

 

A summary of the Company’s outstanding term loans as of June 30, 2020 is as follows (dollars in thousands):

 

Instrument

 

Draw Date

 

Original

Principal

  

Amortization

Per Annum(1)

  

Outstanding

Principal

 

Final

Maturity

Date

 

Balance

Due Upon

Maturity

 

Benchmark

Rate

 

Applicable

Margin(2)

  

Interest

Rate

 

Term Loan A-2

 

5/8/2019

 $700,000  

 

Varies(4)  $685,259 

5/8/2024

 $513,945 

LIBOR

  1.50%   1.68% 
  10/1/2019(3)                          

Term Loan B-1

 

5/1/2017

  500,000   1.0%   485,000 

5/1/2024

  466,250 

LIBOR

  1.75%   1.93% 

Term Loan B-2

 

1/7/2019

  250,000   1.0%   246,875 

1/7/2026

  233,125 

LIBOR

  2.00%   2.18% 

Term Loan B-3

 

6/14/2019

  325,000   1.0%   321,750 

1/7/2026

  303,875 

LIBOR

  2.00%   2.18% 

Total

 $1,775,000      $1,738,884   $1,517,195          

 


(1)

Payable in equal quarterly installments (expressed as a percentage of the original aggregate principal amount). All loans may be prepaid at any time without penalty or premium (subject to customary LIBOR breakage provisions).

(2)

The Term Loan A-2 interest rate spread can vary between 1.25% and 1.75%, determined on a quarterly basis by reference to a pricing grid based on the Company’s Total Net Leverage Ratio (as defined in the Credit Agreement). All other applicable margins are fixed.

(3)

On May 8, 2019, $250 million was drawn. On October 1, 2019, an additional $450 million was drawn.

(4)

Per annum amortization rates for years one through five following the closing date are 2.5%, 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5% and 12.5%, respectively.

 

Unamortized debt issuance costs consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

  

June 30, 2020

  

December 31, 2019

 

Revolving Credit Facility portion:

        

Other noncurrent assets

 $2,149  $2,427 

Term loans portion:

        

Long-term debt (contra account)

  16,208   18,142 

Total

 $18,357  $20,569 

 

The Company recorded debt issuance cost amortization of $1.1 million and $1.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and $2.2 million and $2.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, within interest expense in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

 

The future maturities of outstanding borrowings as of June 30, 2020 were as follows (in thousands): 

 

Year Ending December 31,

  

Amount

 

2020 (remaining six months)

 $14,160 

2021

  37,106 

2022

  54,677 

2023

  81,033 

2024

  1,009,158 

Thereafter

  542,750 

Total

 $1,738,884 

 

The Company was in compliance with all debt covenants as of June 30, 2020. 

 

 

8.

INTEREST RATE SWAPS

 

The Company is party to two interest rate swap agreements, designated as cash flow hedges, to manage the risk of fluctuations in interest rates on its variable rate LIBOR debt. Changes in the fair values of the interest rate swaps are reported through other comprehensive income until the underlying hedged debt’s interest expense impacts net income, at which point the corresponding change in fair value is reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income to interest expense.

 

12

 

A summary of the significant terms of the Company’s interest rate swap agreements is as follows (dollars in thousands):

 

   

Entry

Date

 

Effective

Date

 

Maturity

Date(1)

 

Notional

Amount

 

Settlement Type

 

Settlement

Frequency

 

Fixed

Base Rate

 

Swap A

 

3/7/2019

 

3/11/2019

 

3/11/2029

  $ 850,000  

Receive one-month LIBOR, pay fixed

 

Monthly

    2.653%  

Swap B

 

3/6/2019

 

6/15/2020

 

2/28/2029

    350,000  

Receive one-month LIBOR, pay fixed

 

Monthly

    2.739%  

Total

  $ 1,200,000                

 


(1)

Each swap  may be terminated prior to the scheduled maturity at the election of the Company or the financial institution counterparty under the terms provided in each swap agreement.

 

The combined fair values of the Company’s interest rate swaps are reflected within the condensed consolidated balance sheets as follows (in thousands):

 

   

June 30, 2020

   

December 31, 2019

 

Liabilities:

               

Current portion:

               

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities

  $ 30,347     $ 11,045  

Noncurrent portion:

               

Interest rate swap liability

  $ 184,182     $ 78,612  

Total

  $ 214,529     $ 89,657  
                 

Stockholders’ Equity:

               

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

  $ 161,647     $ 67,556  

 

The combined effect of the Company’s interest rate swaps on the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income is as follows (in thousands):

 

   

Three Months Ended June 30,

   

Six Months Ended June 30,

 
   

2020

   

2019

   

2020

   

2019

 

Interest expense

  $ 4,964     $ 383     $ 7,048     $ 451  
                                 

Unrealized loss on cash flow hedges, gross

  $ 12,558     $ 45,086     $ 124,872     $ 83,672  

Less: Tax effect

    (3,095 )     (11,117 )     (30,781 )     (20,633 )

Unrealized loss on cash flow hedges, net of tax

  $ 9,463     $ 33,969     $ 94,091     $ 63,039  

 

The Company does not hold any derivative instruments for speculative trading purposes.

 

 

9.

FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

 

Financial Assets and Liabilities. The Company has estimated the fair values of its financial instruments as of June 30, 2020 using available market information or other appropriate valuation methodologies. Considerable judgment is required in interpreting market data to develop the estimates of fair value. Accordingly, the following fair value estimates are not necessarily indicative of the amounts the Company would realize in an actual market exchange.

 

The carrying amounts, fair values and related fair value hierarchy levels of the Company’s financial assets and liabilities as of June 30, 2020 were as follows (dollars in thousands):

 

   

June 30, 2020

   

Carrying

   

Fair

 

Fair Value

   

Amount

   

Value

 

Hierarchy

Assets:

                 

Cash and cash equivalents:

                 

Money market investments

  $ 501,949     $ 501,949  

Level 1

Commercial paper

  $ 122,486     $ 122,426  

Level 2

Liabilities:

                 

Long-term debt (including current portion):

           

Term loans

  $ 1,738,884     $ 1,712,801  

Level 2

Other noncurrent liabilities (including current portion):

Interest rate swaps

  $ 214,529     $ 214,529  

Level 2

 

13

 

Money market investments are primarily held in U.S. Treasury securities and registered money market funds and are valued using a market approach based on quoted market prices (level 1). Commercial paper is primarily held with high-quality companies and is valued using quoted market prices for investments similar to the commercial paper (level 2). Money market investments and commercial paper with original maturities of three months or less are included within cash and cash equivalents in the condensed consolidated balance sheets. The fair value of the term loans are estimated based on market prices for similar instruments in active markets (level 2). Interest rate swaps are measured at fair value within the condensed consolidated balance sheets on a recurring basis, with fair value determined using standard valuation models with assumptions about interest rates being based on those observed in underlying markets (level 2).

 

The carrying amounts of accounts receivable, accounts payable and other financial assets and liabilities approximate fair value because of the short-term nature of these instruments.

 

Nonfinancial Assets and Liabilities. The Company’s nonfinancial assets, such as property, plant and equipment, intangible assets and goodwill, are not measured at fair value on a recurring basis. Assets acquired, including identifiable intangible assets and goodwill, and liabilities assumed in acquisitions are recorded at fair value on the respective acquisition dates, subject to potential future measurement period adjustments. Nonfinancial assets are subject to fair value adjustments when there is evidence that impairment may exist. No material impairments were recorded during the six months ended June 30, 2020 or 2019.

 

 

10.

STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

 

Public Equity Offering. In May 2020, the Company completed the Public Offering of 287,500 shares of its common stock for total net proceeds of $469.8 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses. The Company used a portion of the net proceeds to repay in full its outstanding borrowings of $100 million under the Revolving Credit Facility in May 2020. The Company expects to use the remainder of the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including for acquisitions and strategic investments.

 

Treasury Stock. Treasury stock is recorded at cost and is presented as a reduction of stockholders’ equity in the condensed consolidated financial statements. Treasury shares of 155,565 held at June 30, 2020 include shares repurchased under the Company’s share repurchase program and shares withheld for withholding tax, as described below.

 

Share Repurchase Program. On July 1, 2015, the Company’s board of directors (the “Board”) authorized up to $250 million of share repurchases (subject to a total cap of 600,000 shares of common stock). Purchases under the share repurchase program may be made from time to time on the open market and in privately negotiated transactions. The size and timing of these purchases are based on a number of factors, including share price and business and market conditions. Since the inception of the share repurchase program through June 30, 2020, the Company had repurchased 210,631 shares of its common stock at an aggregate cost of $104.9 million. No shares were repurchased during the six months ended June 30, 2020.

 

Tax Withholding for Equity Awards. At the employee’s option, shares of common stock are withheld by the Company upon the vesting of restricted stock and exercise of stock appreciation rights (“SARs”) to cover the applicable statutory minimum amount of employee withholding taxes, which the Company then pays to the taxing authorities in cash. The amounts remitted during the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019 were less than $0.1 million and $0.2 million, for which the Company withheld 17 and 13 shares of common stock, respectively. The amounts remitted during the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019 were $5.8 million and $2.8 million, for which the Company withheld 3,789 and 3,323 shares of common stock, respectively.

 

 

11.

EQUITY-BASED COMPENSATION

 

The Amended and Restated Cable One, Inc. 2015 Omnibus Incentive Compensation Plan (the “2015 Plan”) provides for grants of incentive stock options, non-qualified stock options, restricted stock awards, SARs, restricted stock units (“RSUs”), cash-based awards, performance-based awards, dividend equivalent units (“DEUs” and together with restricted stock awards and RSUs, “Restricted Stock”) and other stock-based awards, including performance stock units and deferred stock units. Directors, officers and employees of the Company and its affiliates are eligible for grants under the 2015 Plan as part of the Company’s approach to long-term incentive compensation. At June 30, 2020, 136,410 shares were available for issuance under the 2015 Plan.

 

14

 

Compensation expense associated with equity-based awards is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period of the award, with forfeitures recognized as incurred. The Company’s equity-based compensation expense, included within selling, general and administrative expenses in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income, was as follows (in thousands):

 

   

Three Months Ended June 30,

   

Six Months Ended June 30,

 
   

2020

   

2019

   

2020

   

2019

 

Restricted Stock

  $ 2,678     $ 1,850     $ 5,185     $ 3,679  

SARs

    748       1,232       1,462       2,424  

Total

  $ 3,426     $ 3,082     $ 6,647     $ 6,103  

 

The Company recognized income tax benefits of $2.7 million and $1.7 million related to equity-based compensation awards during the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and $7.9 million and $2.7 million during the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The deferred tax asset related to all outstanding equity-based compensation awards was $3.5 million as of June 30, 2020.

 

Restricted Stock. A summary of Restricted Stock activity during the six months ended June 30, 2020 is as follows:

 

   

Restricted

Stock

   

Weighted

Average Grant

Date Fair Value

Per Share

 

Outstanding as of December 31, 2019

    38,873     $ 728.77  

Granted

    11,551     $ 1,555.77  

Forfeited

    (5,303 )   $ 718.63  

Vested and issued

    (10,606 )   $ 679.29  

Outstanding as of June 30, 2020

    34,515     $ 1,018.65  
                 

Vested and deferred as of June 30, 2020

    6,655     $ 618.54  

 

At June 30, 2020, there was $18.4 million of unrecognized compensation expense related to Restricted Stock, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 1.4 years.

 

Stock Appreciation Rights. A summary of SARs activity during the six months ended June 30, 2020 is as follows:

 

   

Stock

Appreciation

Rights

   

Weighted

Average

Exercise

Price

   

Weighted

Average

Grant

Date Fair
Value

   

Aggregate

Intrinsic

Value

(in thousands)

   

Weighted

Average

Remaining

Contractual

Term

(in years)

 

Outstanding as of December 31, 2019

    90,410     $ 676.41     $ 153.90     $ 73,419       7.5  

Granted

    3,500     $ 1,540.92     $ 373.12     $ -       9.8  

Exercised

    (22,065 )   $ 514.41     $ 111.62     $ 25,058       -  

Forfeited

    (6,891 )   $ 846.81     $ 199.27                  

Outstanding as of June 30, 2020

    64,954     $ 759.94     $ 175.26     $ 65,922       7.4  
                                         

Exercisable as of June 30, 2020

    28,573     $ 586.79     $ 131.19     $ 33,946       6.4  

 

At June 30, 2020, there was $6.1 million of unrecognized compensation expense related to SARs, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 1.3 years.

 

15

 

The grant date fair value of the SARs is measured using the Black-Scholes valuation model. The weighted average inputs used in the model for grants awarded during the six months ended June 30, 2020 were as follows:  

 

   

Inputs

 

Expected volatility

    25.90

%

Risk-free interest rate

    0.46

%

Expected term (in years)

    6.25  

Expected dividend yield

    0.58

%

 

 

12.

INCOME TAXES

 

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) was enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act, among other things, permits net operating loss (“NOL”) carrybacks to offset up to 100% of taxable income for taxable years beginning before 2021. In addition, the CARES Act allows NOLs incurred in 2018, 2019 and 2020 to be carried back to each of the five preceding taxable years to generate a refund of previously paid income taxes.

 

The Company’s effective tax rate was 17.4% and 20.8% for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and 13.0% and 22.8% for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The decrease in the effective tax rate for the three months ended June 30, 2020 compared to the prior year quarter was primarily related to a $2.8 million increase in income tax benefits attributable to the NOL carryback provision of the CARES Act and a $1.0 million increase in income tax benefits attributable to equity-based compensation awards. The decrease in the effective tax rate for the six months ended June 30, 2020 compared to the prior year period was primarily related to a $9.8 million increase in income tax benefits attributable to the aforementioned NOL carryback, a $5.2 million increase in income tax benefits attributable to equity-based compensation awards and a $1.1 million decrease in income tax expenses attributable to state effective tax rate changes.

 

 

13.

NET INCOME PER COMMON SHARE

 

Basic net income per common share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. The denominator used in calculating diluted net income per common share further includes any common shares available to be issued upon vesting or exercise of outstanding equity-based compensation awards if such inclusion would be dilutive, calculated using the treasury stock method.

 

The computation of basic and diluted net income per common share (dollars in thousands, except per share amounts) was as follows:

 

  

Three Months Ended June 30,

  

Six Months Ended June 30,

 
  

2020

  

2019

  

2020

  

2019

 

Numerator:

                

Net income

 $62,540  $36,395  $131,866  $75,134 

Denominator:

                

Weighted average common shares outstanding - basic

  5,831,796   5,673,669   5,764,850   5,673,893 

Effect of dilutive equity-based compensation awards(1)

  51,621   56,569   54,783   49,403 

Weighted average common shares outstanding - diluted

  5,883,417   5,730,238   5,819,633   5,723,296 
                 

Net Income per Common Share:

                

Basic

 $10.72  $6.41  $22.87  $13.24 

Diluted

 $10.63  $6.35  $22.66  $13.13 
                 

Supplemental Net Income per Common Share Disclosure:

             

Anti-dilutive shares from equity-based compensation awards(1)

  506   87   363   3,895 

 


(1)

Equity-based compensation awards whose impact is considered to be anti-dilutive under the treasury stock method were excluded from the diluted net income per common share calculation. 

 

16

 

 

14.

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

 

Contractual Obligations. The Company has obligations to make future payments for goods and services under certain contractual arrangements. These contractual obligations secure the future rights to various goods and services to be used in the normal course of the Company’s operations. In accordance with applicable accounting rules, the future rights and obligations pertaining to firm commitments, such as certain purchase obligations under contracts, are not reflected as assets or liabilities in the consolidated balance sheets. As of June 30, 2020, there have been no material changes to the contractual obligations previously disclosed in the 2019 Form 10-K.

 

In addition, the Company incurs recurring utility pole rental costs and fees imposed by various governmental authorities, including franchise fees, as part of its operations. However, these costs are not included in the Company’s contractual obligations as they are cancellable on short notice, in the case of pole rental costs, or are passed through on a monthly basis to the Company’s customers and are periodically remitted to authorities, in the case of fees imposed by governmental authorities. The Company also has franchise agreements requiring plant construction and the provision of services to customers within the franchise areas. In connection with these obligations under existing franchise agreements, the Company obtains surety bonds or letters of credit guaranteeing performance to municipalities and public utilities and payment of insurance premiums. Payments under these arrangements are required only in the remote event of nonperformance. The Company issued letters of credit totaling $22.0 million in January 2020 on behalf of Wisper to guarantee its performance obligations under an FCC broadband funding program. As of June 30, 2020, the Company has assessed the likelihood of non-performance associated with the guarantee to be remote, and therefore, no liability has been accrued within the condensed consolidated balance sheet. Refer to note 7 for further details on this transaction.

 

Litigation and Legal Matters. The Company is subject to complaints and administrative proceedings and has been a defendant in various civil lawsuits that have arisen in the ordinary course of its business. Such matters include contract disputes; actions alleging negligence, invasion of privacy, trademark, copyright and patent infringement, and violations of applicable wage and hour laws; statutory or common law claims involving current and former employees; and other matters. Although the outcomes of any legal claims and proceedings against the Company cannot be predicted with certainty, based on currently available information, the Company believes that there are no existing claims or proceedings that are likely to have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

 

Regulation in the Company’s Industry. The Company’s operations are extensively regulated by the FCC, some state governments and most local governments. The FCC has the authority to enforce its regulations through the imposition of substantial fines, the issuance of cease and desist orders and/or the imposition of other administrative sanctions, such as the revocation of FCC licenses needed to operate certain transmission facilities used in connection with cable operations. Future legislative and regulatory changes could adversely affect the Company’s operations.

 

17

 

 

ITEM 2.     MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

The following discussion and analysis of our results of operations and financial condition should be read in conjunction with our condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto as of and for the year ended December 31, 2019 and the related “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” both of which are contained in our 2019 Form 10-K. Our results of operations and financial condition discussed herein may not be indicative of our future results and trends.

 

Throughout this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” all totals, percentages and year-over-year changes are calculated using exact numbers. Minor differences may exist due to rounding. Any discussion of consolidated results or performance for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020 is inclusive of Fidelity operations.

 

Overview

 

We are a fully integrated provider of data, video and voice services in 21 Western, Midwestern and Southern states. We provide these broadband services to residential and business customers in more than 950 communities as of June 30, 2020. The markets we serve are primarily non-metropolitan, secondary and tertiary markets, with approximately 79% of our customers located in seven states as of June 30, 2020: Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Our biggest customer concentrations are in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region and in the greater Boise, Idaho region. We provided service to approximately 962,000 residential and business customers out of approximately 2.3 million homes passed as of June 30, 2020. Of these customers, approximately 838,000 subscribed to data services, 290,000 subscribed to video services and 133,000 subscribed to voice services as of June 30, 2020.

 

We generate substantially all of our revenues through four primary products. Ranked by share of our total revenues through the first six months of 2020, they are residential data (49.1%), residential video (26.6%), business services (data, voice and video – 17.9%) and residential voice (3.8%). The profit margins, growth rates and capital intensity of our four primary products vary significantly due to competition, product maturity and relative costs.

 

On January 8, 2019, we acquired Clearwave, a facilities-based service provider that owns and operates a high-capacity fiber network offering dense regional coverage in Southern Illinois. We paid a purchase price of $358.8 million in cash on a debt-free basis. On October 1, 2019, we acquired Fidelity, a provider of connectivity services to residential and business customers throughout Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. We paid a purchase price of $531.4 million in cash on a debt-free basis. 

 

In May 2020, we made a $27.2 million minority equity investment in AMG Technology Investment Group, LLC, a fixed wireless provider (“Nextlink”). In July 2020, we acquired Valu-Net LLC, an all-fiber internet service provider headquartered in Kansas (“Valu-Net”), for a base purchase price of $38.4 million, subject to customary post-closing adjustments. We also closed a minority equity investment in Wisper for total consideration of $25.3 million in July 2020. During the third quarter of 2020, we also entered into an agreement with Hargray Communications (“Hargray”) whereby we will contribute our Anniston, Alabama system in exchange for a minority equity interest in Hargray. The Hargray transaction is expected to be completed in the fall of 2020, subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

 

Beginning in 2013, we shifted our focus towards growing our higher margin businesses, namely residential data and business services, rather than our prior concentration on growing revenues through subscriber retention and maximizing customer primary service units (“PSUs”). We adapted our strategy to face the industry-wide trends of declining profitability of residential video services and declining revenues from residential voice services. The declining profitability of residential video services is primarily due to increasing programming costs and retransmission fees and competition from other content providers, and the declining revenues from residential voice services are primarily due to the increasing use of wireless voice services instead of residential voice services. Separately, we have also focused on retaining customers who are likely to produce higher relative value over the life of their service relationships with us, are less attracted by discounting, require less support and churn less. This strategy focuses on increasing Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures and margins (refer to the section entitled “ Use of Adjusted EBITDA” for the definition of Adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure).

Excluding the effects of our recently completed and possible future acquisitions and divestitures, the trends described above and the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted, and are expected to further impact, our four primary product lines in the following ways:

Residential data. We have experienced growth in residential data customers and revenues every year since 2013, and that growth accelerated during the three months ended June 30, 2020, in part as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and our associated responses discussed below, including suspending the disconnection of data services. We expect growth for this product line to continue over the long-term as upgrades in our broadband capacity, our ability to offer higher access speeds than many of our competitors, the reliability and the flexibility of our data service offerings and our Wi-Fi support service will enable us to capture additional market share from both data subscribers who use other providers as well as households in our footprint that do not yet subscribe to data services from any provider. 

 

 

Residential video. Residential video service is an increasingly costly and fragmenting business, with programming costs and retransmission fees continuing to escalate in the face of a proliferation of streaming content alternatives. We intend to continue our strategy of focusing on the higher-margin businesses of residential data and business services while de-emphasizing our residential video business. We experienced a slightly accelerated decline in organic residential video customers and revenues during the three months ended June 30, 2020 as a result of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of our video strategy, we expect that residential video customers and revenues will decline further in the future.

 

Residential voice. We have experienced declines in residential voice customers as a result of consumers in the United States deciding to terminate their residential voice services and exclusively use wireless voice services. We believe this trend will continue because of competition from wireless voice service providers. Revenues from residential voice customers have declined over recent years, and we expect this decline will continue.

 

Business services. We have experienced significant growth in business data customers and revenues, and we expect this growth to continue over the long-term. We attribute this growth to our strategic focus on increasing sales to business customers and our efforts to attract enterprise business customers. Margins for products sold to business customers have remained attractive, which we expect will continue. During the three months ended June 30, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and our associated responses, including business sales associates working from home, resulted in suppressed sales growth from small business customers while at the same time the pandemic presented additional subscriber acquisition and upgrade opportunities primarily for larger and enterprise businesses in need of faster and more reliable data and voice services.

 

We continue to experience increased competition, particularly from telephone companies, cable and municipal overbuilders, over-the-top (“OTT”) video providers and direct broadcast satellite (“DBS”) television providers. Because of the levels of competition we face, we believe it is important to make investments in our infrastructure. In addition, a key objective of our capital allocation process is to invest in initiatives designed to drive revenue and Adjusted EBITDA expansion. Over our last three fiscal years, more than 50% of our total capital expenditures were focused on infrastructure improvements that were intended to grow these measures. We continue to invest capital to, among other things, increase our plant and data capacities as well as network reliability. As of June 30, 2020, we offer Gigabit data service to approximately 97% of our homes passed. We are also deploying DOCSIS 3.1 to further increase our network capacity and enable future growth in our residential data and business services product lines.

 

We expect to continue to devote financial resources to infrastructure improvements, including in certain of the new markets we have acquired, because we believe these investments are necessary to continually meet our customers’ needs and to remain competitive. The capital enhancements associated with acquired operations include rebuilding low capacity markets; reclaiming bandwidth from analog video services; implementing 32-channel bonding; deploying DOCSIS 3.1; converting back office functions such as billing, accounting and service provisioning; migrating products to legacy Cable One platforms; and expanding our high-capacity fiber network.

 

Our primary goals are to continue growing residential data and business services revenues, to increase profit margins and to deliver strong Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures. To achieve these goals, we intend to continue our disciplined cost management approach, remain focused on customers with expected higher relative value and follow through with further planned investments in broadband plant upgrades, including the deployment of DOCSIS 3.1 capabilities and new data service offerings for residential and business customers while at the same time balancing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, associates, customers and other stakeholders. We also plan to continue seeking broadband-related acquisition and strategic investment opportunities in rural markets.

 

COVID-19 Update

 

We represent a part of the United States’ critical infrastructure, and our continued operation is essential to connectivity services that are vital during the COVID‐19 pandemic. At the same time, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused us to modify our operations, including restricting our technicians from entering customer homes and businesses; closing or limiting access to local offices and our corporate headquarters for associates, customers and others; limiting non-essential travel for associates; instituting an expanded work-from-home program, including enhancing our technological capabilities to support such efforts; implementing “purpose pay” to provide a 25% premium to base pay for certain associates who are required to leave their homes to perform their essential job functions; and establishing health protocols and providing personal protective equipment to protect our associates, customers and others.

 

 

In addition, in an effort to help ease the financial burden and provide continued connectivity for our customers and communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in March 2020, we initially committed to do the following for 60 days under the FCC’s Keep Americans Connected Pledge: waive late charges and suspend disconnection of data services for residential and business customers who are unable to pay their bill due to disruptions caused by the pandemic and open free public Wi-Fi hotspots in local office parking lots and other public areas across our footprint, which are in place at nearly 140 locations. These commitments were scheduled to conclude on June 30, 2020; however, we continued to waive late charges for residential and small business data and voice customers through July 31, 2020 and have extended access to our free public Wi-Fi hotspots through the end of 2020.

 

Other actions taken by us beginning in March 2020 to assist customers and the communities we serve during the COVID-19 pandemic included discontinuing charging data overage fees, which was later extended through the end of June 2020; offering a low-cost 15 Megabit per second residential data plan for $10 per month for the first three months of service to help low-income families and those most impacted by the pandemic, which is available through December 31, 2020; donating more than $300,000 for community relief efforts and supporting various other local relief efforts; and partnering with communities, hospitals, medical centers and other essential institutions to address their broadband connection needs and challenges. We also revised a majority of our residential data plans to provide 50 to 300 Gigabits of additional data based on the plan as of July 1, 2020, and we continue to work with residential and small business data and voice customers who have been harmed financially by the COVID-19 pandemic to keep them connected by offering flexible payment plans. Meanwhile, to meet the increased demand from new residential data customers, we focused on data-only connects for most of the second quarter.

 

In addition to the effects to our primary product lines noted above, the COVID-19 pandemic and our associated responses negatively impacted Adjusted EBITDA by $14.9 million and $16.5 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively, primarily driven by a decrease in revenues from the suspension of data overage fees, late charges and reconnect fees, reduced advertising revenues and diminished growth in business services revenues, coupled with higher labor costs and bad debt expense. These negative Adjusted EBITDA impacts were mostly offset during the three months ended June 30, 2020 by a greater-than-usual quarterly gain in residential data customers and the associated increase in residential data revenues as well as a largely unexpected reduction of certain expenses that resulted from shelter-in-place orders and our expanded work-from-home program.

 

We also delayed the planned implementation of our new ERP system because of resource challenges and inefficiencies that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. We are now planning to implement our new ERP system by the summer of 2021.

 

We expect the negative impacts associated with the actions we took in response to the pandemic to continue into the third quarter of 2020, due primarily to reduced data overage fees, late charges and reconnect fees during the early part of the third quarter and elevated labor costs throughout the third quarter. However, the increase in residential data revenues associated with the significant number of residential data customers acquired during the second quarter of 2020 is anticipated to partially offset these reduced revenues and additional costs. In addition, we face various uncertainties related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the overall economy and our business, including whether we are able to sustain continued customer growth, our level of bad debt expense, and if some of the unexpected expense reductions realized during the second quarter of 2020 will continue or if those expenses will return to more normal levels as certain areas of the country ease pandemic-related restrictions.

 

We continue to monitor the evolving situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we may take further actions required by governmental authorities or that we determine are prudent to support the well-being of our associates, customers, suppliers, business partners and others. The degree to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our operations, business, financial results and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain, continuously evolving and cannot be predicted. This includes, but is not limited to, the duration and spread of the pandemic, its severity, the actions to contain the virus or treat its impact, potential legislative or regulatory efforts to impose new requirements on our data services and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume.

 

Refer to the section entitled “Risks Factors” in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for additional risks we face due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

 

Results of Operations

 

PSU and Customer Counts

 

Selected subscriber data for the periods presented was as follows (in thousands, except percentages):

 

   

As of June 30,

   

Annual Net Gain/(Loss)

 
   

2020

   

2019

   

Change

   

% Change

 

Residential data PSUs(1)

    758       613       145       23.7  

Residential video PSUs

    276       293       (17 )     (5.9 )

Residential voice PSUs

    98       94       4       4.6  

Total residential PSUs(1)

    1,132       1,000       132       13.2  
                                 

Business data PSUs

    80       69       11       15.9  

Business video PSUs

    14       15       (1 )     (8.2 )

Business voice PSUs

    35       30       5       17.0  

Total business services PSUs

    129       114       15       13.0  
                                 

Total data PSUs(1)

    838       682       156       22.9  

Total video PSUs

    290       308       (18 )     (6.0 )

Total voice PSUs

    133       124       9       7.6  

Total PSUs(1)

    1,261       1,114       147       13.2  
                                 

Residential customer relationships(1)

    876       742       134       18.0  

Business customer relationships

    86       76       9       12.1  

Total customer relationships(1)

    962       819       143       17.5  

 


(1)

The amount as of June 30, 2020 excluded approximately 2,000 residential data customers or PSUs, as applicable, considered to be high risk for disconnection because payments have not been made since activation.

 

In recent years, our customer mix has shifted, causing subscribers to move from triple-play packages combining data, video and voice services to single and double-play packages. This is largely because some residential video customers have defected to DBS services and OTT offerings and households continue to terminate residential voice service. In addition, we have focused on selling data-only packages to new customers rather than cross-selling video to these customers. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic and our responses to it have accelerated this customer mix shift.

 

Use of Nonfinancial Metrics and Average Monthly Revenue per Unit (“ARPU”)

 

We use various nonfinancial metrics to measure, manage and monitor our operating performance on an ongoing basis. Such metrics include homes passed, PSUs and customer relationships. Homes passed represents the number of serviceable and marketable homes and businesses passed by our active plant. A PSU represents a single subscription to a particular service offering. Residential bulk multi-dwelling PSUs are classified as residential and are counted at the individual unit level. Business voice customers who have multiple voice lines are counted as a single PSU. A customer relationship represents a single customer who subscribes to one or more PSUs.

 

We believe homes passed, PSU and customer relationship counts are useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance. Similar measures with similar titles are common measures used by investors, analysts and peers to compare performance in our industry, although our measures of homes passed, PSUs and customer relationships may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

 

We use ARPU to evaluate and monitor the amount of revenue generated by each type of service subscribed to by customers and the contribution to total revenues as well as to analyze and compare growth patterns. Residential ARPU values represent the applicable residential service revenues (excluding installation and activation fees) divided by the corresponding average of the number of PSUs at the beginning and end of each period, divided by the number of months in the period, except that for any new PSUs added as a result of an acquisition occurring during the period, the associated ARPU values represent the applicable residential service revenues (excluding installation and activation fees) divided by the pro-rated average number of PSUs during such period. Business services ARPU values represent business services revenues divided by the average of the number of business customer relationships at the beginning and end of each period, divided by the number of months in the period, except that for any new business customer relationships added as a result of an acquisition occurring during the period, the associated ARPU values represent business services revenues divided by the pro-rated average number of business customer relationships during such period.

 

 

We believe ARPU is useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance. ARPU and similar measures with similar titles are common measures used by investors, analysts and peers to compare performance in our industry, although our measure of ARPU may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

 

Comparison of Three Months Ended June 30, 2020 to Three Months Ended June 30, 2019

 

Revenues

 

Revenues increased $42.7 million, or 14.9%, due primarily to increases in residential data and business services revenues of $31.2 million and $8.7 million, respectively. The increase was primarily the result of the acquired Fidelity operations, which contributed $33.1 million, and organic growth in our higher margin product lines of residential data and business services, partially offset by decreases in organic residential video, residential voice and other revenues. Certain actions we took in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including temporarily discontinuing charging data overage fees, waiving late charges and suspending collection activities, which reduced reconnect fees, negatively impacted consolidated revenues by $7.9 million during the three months ended June 30, 2020. This negative impact on consolidated revenues, of which $5.0 million was associated with other revenues, was mostly offset by a larger-than-usual quarterly gain in residential data customers and the associated increase in residential data revenues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Revenues by service offering for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, together with the percentages of total revenues that each item represented for the periods presented, were as follows (dollars in thousands):

 

   

Three Months Ended June 30,

                 
   

2020

   

2019

   

2020 vs. 2019

 
   

Revenues

   

% of Total

   

Revenues

   

% of Total

   

$ Change

   

% Change

 

Residential data

  $ 164,015       50.0     $ 132,824       46.5     $ 31,191       23.5  

Residential video

    87,328       26.6       84,033       29.4       3,295       3.9  

Residential voice

    12,120       3.7       10,705       3.7       1,415       13.2  

Business services

    58,469       17.8       49,759       17.4       8,710       17.5  

Other

    6,371       1.9       8,329       3.0       (1,958 )     (23.5 )

Total revenues

  $ 328,303       100.0     $ 285,650       100.0     $ 42,653       14.9  

 

Residential data service revenues increased $31.2 million, or 23.5%, due primarily to organic subscriber growth, including a larger-than-usual quarterly subscriber gain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the acquired Fidelity operations, a reduction in package discounting and increased customer subscriptions to premium tiers.

 

Residential video service revenues increased $3.3 million, or 3.9%, due primarily to the acquired Fidelity operations and a rate adjustment, partially offset by a 14.3% year-over-year decrease in residential video subscribers, excluding Fidelity.

 

Residential voice service revenues increased $1.4 million, or 13.2%, due primarily to the acquired Fidelity operations, partially offset by a 12.7% year-over-year decrease in residential voice subscribers, excluding Fidelity.

 

Business services revenues increased $8.7 million, or 17.5%, due primarily to the acquired Fidelity operations and organic growth in our business data and voice services to small and medium-sized businesses and enterprise customers. Total business customer relationships increased 12.1% year-over-year.

 

Other revenues decreased $2.0 million, or 23.5%, due to actions we took in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including temporarily discontinuing charging data overage fees, waiving late charges and suspending collection activities, which reduced reconnect fees, partially offset by other revenues from the acquired Fidelity operations.

 

 

ARPU for the indicated service offerings for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019 were as follows:

 

   

Three Months Ended June 30,

   

2020 vs. 2019

 
   

2020

   

2019

   

$ Change

   

% Change

 

Residential data

  $ 73.80     $ 71.80     $ 2.00       2.8  

Residential video

  $ 102.95     $ 93.43     $ 9.52       10.2  

Residential voice

  $ 40.35     $ 37.32     $ 3.03       8.1  

Business services

  $ 228.11     $ 218.77     $ 9.34       4.3  

 

Costs and Expenses

 

Operating expenses (excluding depreciation and amortization) were $106.0 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and increased $10.3 million, or 10.8%, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2019. Operating expenses as a percentage of revenues were 32.3% and 33.5% for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The increase in operating expenses was due primarily to $10.3 million of additional expenses related to Fidelity operations and a $3.6 million increase in labor costs, partially offset by a $2.9 million decrease in programming expenses. On a consolidated basis, operating expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2020 reflect $3.9 million of increased labor costs and other operating expenses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $65.0 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and increased $4.9 million, or 8.1%, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2019. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenues were 19.8% and 21.0% for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses was primarily attributable to $6.1 million of additional expenses related to Fidelity operations and a $4.3 million increase in bad debt expense, partially offset by decreases of $3.1 million in health insurance costs and $2.6 million in rebranding expenses. The lower health insurance costs were due to reduced claims activity in connection with stay-at-home orders issued during the pandemic. On a consolidated basis, selling, general and administrative expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2020 reflect $3.0 million of additional expenses primarily attributable to higher bad debt expense estimates resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Depreciation and amortization expense was $65.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020, including $11.0 million attributable to Fidelity operations, and increased $10.7 million, or 19.6%, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2019. As a percentage of revenues, depreciation and amortization expense was 20.0% and 19.2% for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

 

Interest Expense

 

Interest expense was $16.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and decreased $1.9 million, or 10.3%, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2019. The decrease was driven primarily by lower interest rates, partially offset by additional outstanding debt and higher interest rate swap settlement expense.

 

Other Income (Expense), Net

 

Other income of $1.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020 consisted of interest and investment income. Other expense of $9.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2019 consisted of a $6.5 million call premium related to the redemption of our previously outstanding senior notes and $4.9 million of debt issuance cost write-offs, partially offset by interest and investment income.

 

Income Tax Provision

 

Income tax provision was $13.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and increased $3.6 million, or 38.0%, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2019. Our effective tax rate was 17.4% and 20.8% for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The decrease in the effective tax rate was due primarily to a $2.8 million increase in income tax benefits attributable to the NOL carryback provision of the CARES Act and a $1.0 million increase in income tax benefits attributable to equity-based compensation awards.

 

Net Income

 

Net income was $62.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020 compared to $36.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2019, an increase of $26.1 million.

 

 

Unrealized Loss on Cash Flow Hedges and Other, Net of Tax

 

Unrealized loss on cash flow hedges and other, net of tax was $9.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and decreased $24.5 million, or 72.2%, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2019 due primarily to lower unrealized losses on our interest rate swaps.

 

Comparison of Six Months Ended June 30, 2020 to Six Months Ended June 30, 2019

 

Revenues

 

Revenues increased $85.2 million, or 15.1%, due primarily to increases in residential data and business services revenues of $56.4 million and $19.4 million, respectively. The increase was primarily the result of the acquired Fidelity operations, which contributed $65.3 million, and organic growth in our higher margin product lines of residential data and business services, partially offset by decreases in organic residential video and other revenues. Certain actions we took in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including temporarily discontinuing charging data overage fees, waiving late charges and suspending collection activities, which reduced reconnect fees, negatively impacted consolidated revenues by $8.6 million during the six months ended June 30, 2020. This negative impact on consolidated revenues, of which $5.4 million was associated with other revenues, was mostly offset by a larger-than-usual gain in residential data customers and the associated increase in residential data revenues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Revenues by service offering for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, together with the percentages of total revenues that each item represented for the periods presented, were as follows (dollars in thousands):

 

   

Six Months Ended June 30,

                 
   

2020

   

2019

   

2020 vs. 2019

 
   

Revenues

   

% of Total

   

Revenues

   

% of Total

   

$ Change

   

% Change

 

Residential data

  $ 319,005       49.1     $ 262,635       46.5     $ 56,370       21.5  

Residential video

    172,650       26.6       167,836       29.7       4,814       2.9  

Residential voice

    24,547       3.8       20,329       3.6       4,218       20.7  

Business services

    116,331       17.9       96,903       17.2       19,428       20.0  

Other

    16,966       2.6       16,552       3.0       414       2.5  

Total revenues

  $ 649,499       100.0     $ 564,255       100.0     $ 85,244       15.1  

 

Residential data service revenues increased $56.4 million, or 21.5%, due primarily to the acquired Fidelity operations, organic subscriber growth, including a larger-than-usual subscriber gain in the second quarter of 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a reduction in package discounting and increased customer subscriptions to premium tiers.

 

Residential video service revenues increased $4.8 million, or 2.9%, due primarily to the acquired Fidelity operations and a rate adjustment, partially offset by a 14.3% year-over-year decrease in residential video subscribers, excluding Fidelity.

 

Residential voice service revenues increased $4.2 million, or 20.7%, due primarily to the acquired Fidelity operations and the recognition of certain passthrough fees that were historically reported on a net basis, partially offset by a 12.7% year-over-year decrease in residential voice subscribers, excluding Fidelity.

 

Business services revenues increased $19.4 million, or 20.0%, due primarily to the acquired Fidelity operations and organic growth in our business data and voice services to small and medium-sized businesses and enterprise customers. Total business customer relationships increased 12.1% year-over-year.

 

ARPU for the indicated service offerings for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019 were as follows:

 

   

Six Months Ended June 30,

   

2020 vs. 2019

 
   

2020

   

2019

   

$ Change

   

% Change

 

Residential data

  $ 72.68     $ 71.58     $ 1.10       1.5  

Residential video

  $ 99.97     $ 92.44     $ 7.53       8.1  

Residential voice(1)

  $ 40.22     $ 34.91     $ 5.31       15.2  

Business services(1)

  $ 227.39     $ 217.11     $ 10.28       4.7  

 


(1)

The increases in residential voice and business services ARPU from the prior year were partially a result of certain passthrough fees that were reported on a net basis prior to the second quarter of 2019. Residential voice and business services ARPU for the six months ended June 30, 2020 would have been $34.91 and $223.66, respectively, and for the six months ended June 30, 2019 would have been $32.85 and $215.00, respectively, if reported on a comparable basis.

 

 

Costs and Expenses

 

Operating expenses (excluding depreciation and amortization) were $212.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and increased $21.8 million, or 11.4%, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2019. Operating expenses as a percentage of revenues were 32.6% and 33.7% for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The increase in operating expenses was due primarily to $21.3 million of additional expenses related to Fidelity operations, a $5.2 million increase in labor costs and $2.4 million of higher repairs and maintenance costs, partially offset by a $7.8 million decrease in programming expenses. On a consolidated basis, operating expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2020 reflect $4.1 million of increased labor costs and other operating expenses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $127.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and increased $6.3 million, or 5.2%, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2019. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenues were 19.7% and 21.5% for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses was primarily attributable to $12.4 million of additional expenses related to Fidelity operations, a $5.7 million increase in labor costs and a $4.4 million increase in bad debt expense, partially offset by decreases of $4.7 million in health insurance costs, $2.8 million in rebranding expenses, $2.8 million in acquisition-related costs, $1.7 million in repairs and maintenance costs, $1.5 million in system conversion costs and $1.4 million in professional services costs. As discussed above, the lower health insurance costs were due to reduced claims activity in connection with stay-at-home orders issued during the pandemic. On a consolidated basis, selling, general and administrative expenses for six months ended June 30, 2020 reflect $3.8 million of additional expenses primarily attributable to higher bad debt expense estimates resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Depreciation and amortization expense was $130.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020, including $21.8 million attributable to Fidelity operations, and increased $22.2 million, or 20.4%, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2019. As a percentage of revenues, depreciation and amortization expense was 20.1% and 19.3% for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

 

We recognized a net gain on asset sales and disposals of $4.6 million during the six months ended June 30, 2020 compared to a net loss on asset sales and disposals of $2.0 million during the six months ended June 30, 2019. The six months ended June 30, 2020 included a $6.6 million non-cash gain on the sale of certain tower properties. The six months ended June 30, 2019 included a $1.6 million gain on the sale of a non-operating property that housed our former headquarters.

 

Interest Expense

 

Interest expense was $35.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and decreased $1.3 million, or 3.6%, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2019. The decrease was driven primarily by lower interest rates, partially offset by additional outstanding debt and higher interest rate swap settlement expense.

 

Other Income (Expense)

 

Other income of $3.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 consisted of interest and investment income. Other expense of $7.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 consisted of a $6.5 million call premium related to the redemption of our previously outstanding senior notes and $4.9 million of debt issuance cost write-offs, partially offset by interest and investment income.

 

Income Tax Provision

 

Income tax provision was $19.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and decreased $2.6 million, or 11.5%, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2019. Our effective tax rate was 13.0% and 22.8% for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The decrease in the effective tax rate was due primarily to a $9.8 million increase in income tax benefits attributable to the NOL carryback provision of the CARES Act, a $5.2 million increase in income tax benefits attributable to equity-based compensation awards and a $1.1 million decrease in income tax expenses attributable to state effective tax rate changes.

 

 

Net Income

 

Net income was $131.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 compared to $75.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019, an increase of $56.7 million.

 

Unrealized Loss on Cash Flow Hedges and Other, Net of Tax

 

Unrealized loss on cash flow hedges and other, net of tax was $94.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and increased $31.0 million, or 49.2%, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2019 due primarily to higher unrealized losses on our interest rate swaps.

 

Use of Adjusted EBITDA

 

We use certain measures that are not defined by GAAP to evaluate various aspects of our business. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure and should be considered in addition to, not as superior to, or as a substitute for, net income reported in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA is reconciled to net income below.

 

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income plus interest expense, income tax provision, depreciation and amortization, equity-based compensation, severance expense, (gain) loss on deferred compensation, acquisition-related costs, (gain) loss on asset sales and disposals, system conversion costs, rebranding costs, other (income) expense and other unusual expenses, as provided in the following table. As such, it eliminates the significant non-cash depreciation and amortization expense that results from the capital-intensive nature of our business as well as other non-cash or special items and is unaffected by our capital structure or investment activities. This measure is limited in that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain capitalized tangible and intangible assets used in generating revenues and our cash cost of debt financing. These costs are evaluated through other financial measures.

 

We use Adjusted EBITDA to assess our performance. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA generally correlates to the measure used in the leverage ratio calculations under our Senior Credit Facilities to determine compliance with the covenants contained in the Credit Agreement. Adjusted EBITDA is also a significant performance measure used by us in our annual incentive compensation program. Adjusted EBITDA does not take into account cash used for mandatory debt service requirements or other non-discretionary expenditures, and thus does not represent residual funds available for discretionary uses.

 

   

Three Months Ended June 30,

   

2020 vs. 2019

 

(dollars in thousands)

 

2020

   

2019

   

$ Change

   

% Change

 

Net income

  $ 62,540     $ 36,395     $ 26,145       71.8  
                                 

Plus:   Interest expense

    16,615       18,516       (1,901 )     (10.3 )

Income tax provision

    13,209       9,571       3,638       38.0  

Depreciation and amortization

    65,584       54,835       10,749       19.6  

Equity-based compensation

    3,426       3,082       344       11.2  

Severance expense

    -       15       (15 )     (100.0 )

Loss on deferred compensation

    206       78       128       164.1  

Acquisition-related costs

    1,293       871       422       48.5  

Loss on asset sales and disposals, net

    988       910       78       8.6  

System conversion costs

    647       777       (130 )     (16.7 )

Rebranding costs

    311       2,902       (2,591 )     (89.3 )

Other (income) expense, net

    (1,655 )     9,632       (11,287 )     (117.2 )
                                 

Adjusted EBITDA

  $ 163,164     $ 137,584     $ 25,580       18.6  

 

 

   

Six Months Ended June 30,

   

2020 vs. 2019

 

(dollars in thousands)

 

2020

   

2019

   

$ Change

   

% Change

 

Net income

  $ 131,866     $ 75,134     $ 56,732       75.5  
                                 

Plus:   Interest expense

    35,289       36,612       (1,323 )     (3.6 )

Income tax provision

    19,669       22,235       (2,566 )     (11.5 )

Depreciation and amortization

    130,863       108,679       22,184       20.4  

Equity-based compensation

    6,647       6,103       544       8.9  

Severance expense

    -       178       (178 )     (100.0 )

(Gain) loss on deferred compensation

    (21 )     253       (274 )     (108.3 )

Acquisition-related costs

    3,310       6,094       (2,784 )     (45.7 )

(Gain) loss on asset sales and disposals, net

    (4,633 )     2,013       (6,646 )     NM  

System conversion costs

    696       2,173       (1,477 )     (68.0 )

Rebranding costs

    578       3,412       (2,834 )     (83.1 )

Other (income) expense, net

    (3,389 )     7,830       (11,219 )     (143.3 )
                                 

Adjusted EBITDA

  $ 320,875     $ 270,716     $ 50,159       18.5  

 


NM = Not meaningful.

 

 

We believe that Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA and similar measures with similar titles are common measures used by investors, analysts and peers to compare performance in our industry, although our measure of Adjusted EBITDA may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

 

Financial Condition: Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

Liquidity

 

Our primary funding requirements are for our ongoing operations, planned capital expenditures, potential acquisitions and strategic investments, payments of quarterly dividends and share repurchases. We believe that existing cash balances, our Senior Credit Facilities and operating cash flows will provide adequate support for these funding requirements over the next 12 months. However, our ability to fund operations, make planned capital expenditures, make future acquisitions and strategic investments, pay quarterly dividends and make share repurchases depends on future operating performance and cash flows, which, in turn, are subject to prevailing economic conditions and to financial, business and other factors, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of which are beyond our control.

 

In light of the volatility in the debt markets resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as our desire to enhance our flexibility in pursuing acquisitions and strategic investments, in May 2020, we completed the Public Offering and raised $469.8 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses. See below for further details on the Public Offering.

 

A summary of our net cash flows for the periods indicated was as follows (dollars in thousands):

 

   

Six Months Ended June 30,

   

2020 vs. 2019

 
   

2020

   

2019

   

$ Change

   

% Change

 

Net cash provided by operating activities

  $ 272,195     $ 212,494     $ 59,701       28.1  

Net cash used in investing activities

    (178,072 )     (465,817 )     287,745       (61.8 )

Net cash provided by financing activities

    423,158       91,493       331,665       NM  

Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

    517,281       (161,830 )     679,111       NM  

Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period

    125,271       264,113       (138,842 )     (52.6 )

Cash and cash equivalents, end of period

  $ 642,552     $ 102,283     $ 540,269       NM  

 


NM = Not meaningful.

 

The $59.7 million year-over-year increase in net cash provided by operating activities was primarily attributable to an increase in Adjusted EBITDA of $50.2 million and lower cash paid for acquisition costs, rebranding costs, taxes and interest and a notes redemption call premium paid in the second quarter of 2019, partially offset by an unfavorable change in accounts payable and accrued liabilities.

 

The $287.7 million decrease in net cash used in investing activities from the prior year period was due primarily to $356.9 million of cash outflows related to the Clearwave acquisition in the first quarter of 2019, partially offset by a $28.3 million increase in cash paid for capital expenditures, the $27.2 million equity investment in Nextlink, the $7.3 million issuance of a note and other receivables to Wisper that did not occur in the prior year period and lower proceeds from sales of property, plant and equipment during the first six months of 2020.

 

 

The $331.7 million increase in net cash provided by financing activities from the prior year period was due primarily to $469.8 million of net proceeds from the Public Offering in the second quarter of 2020, partially offset by a $148.3 million reduction in net debt borrowings compared to the prior year quarter.

 

On July 1, 2015, the Board authorized up to $250 million of share repurchases (subject to a total cap of 600,000 shares of our common stock). Purchases under the share repurchase program may be made from time to time on the open market and in privately negotiated transactions. The size and timing of these purchases are based on a number of factors, including share price and business and market conditions. Since the inception of the share repurchase program through the end of the second quarter of 2020, we have repurchased 210,631 shares of our common stock at an aggregate cost of $104.9 million. No shares were repurchased during the six months ended June 30, 2020.

 

We currently expect to continue to pay quarterly cash dividends on shares of our common stock, subject to approval of the Board. During the second quarter of 2020, the Board approved a quarterly dividend of $2.25 per share of common stock, which was paid on June 12, 2020. On August 4, 2020, the Board approved a $0.25 per share increase in the Company’s quarterly dividend to $2.50 per share of common stock to be paid on September 4, 2020 to holders of record as of August 18, 2020.

 

Financing Activity

 

The Credit Agreement provides for the Term Loan A-2, the Term Loan B-1, the Term Loan B-2, the Term Loan B-3 and the Revolving Credit Facility. The Revolving Credit Facility also gives us the ability to issue letters of credit, which reduce the amount available for borrowing under the Revolving Credit Facility.

 

In January 2020, we issued letters of credit totaling $22.0 million under the Revolving Credit Facility on behalf of Wisper to guarantee its performance obligations under an FCC broadband funding program. The fair value of the letters of credit approximates face value based on the short-term nature of the agreements. We would be liable for up to $22.0 million if Wisper were to fail to satisfy all or some of its performance obligations under the FCC program. Wisper pledged certain assets in favor of us as collateral for issuing the letters of credit, which pledge was terminated in the third quarter of 2020 at the same time that we closed an equity investment in Wisper, and Wisper has agreed to guarantee and indemnify us in connection with such letters of credit. As of June 30, 2020, we have assessed the likelihood of non-performance associated with the guarantee to be remote, and therefore, no liability has been accrued within the condensed consolidated balance sheet.

 

In March 2020, we borrowed $100 million under the Revolving Credit Facility for general corporate purposes, including for small acquisitions and investments. The outstanding balance was repaid in full in May 2020 using a portion of the net proceeds from the Public Offering. Letter of credit issuances under the Revolving Credit Facility totaled $28.7 million and were held for the benefit of performance obligations under government grant programs and certain general and liability insurance matters and bore interest at a rate of 1.63% per annum. As of June 30, 2020, we had $1.7 billion of aggregate outstanding term loans and $321.3 million available for borrowing under the Revolving Credit Facility.

 

A summary of our outstanding term loans as of June 30, 2020 is as follows (dollars in thousands):

 

Instrument

 

Draw Date

 

Original

Principal

   

Amortization

Per Annum(1)

   

Outstanding

Principal

 

Final

Maturity

Date

 

Balance

Due Upon

Maturity

 

Benchmark

Rate

 

Applicable

Margin(2)

   

Interest

Rate

 

Term Loan A-2

 

5/8/2019

  $ 700,000    

 

Varies(4)     $ 685,259  

5/8/2024

  $ 513,945  

LIBOR

    1.50%       1.68%  
    10/1/2019(3)                                                    

Term Loan B-1

 

5/1/2017

    500,000       1.0%       485,000  

5/1/2024

    466,250  

LIBOR

    1.75%       1.93%  

Term Loan B-2

 

1/7/2019

    250,000       1.0%       246,875  

1/7/2026

    233,125  

LIBOR

    2.00%       2.18%  

Term Loan B-3

 

6/14/2019

    325,000       1.0%       321,750  

1/7/2026

    303,875  

LIBOR

    2.00%       2.18%  

Total

  $ 1,775,000             $ 1,738,884       $ 1,517,195                    

 


(1)

Payable in equal quarterly installments (expressed as a percentage of the original aggregate principal amount). All loans may be prepaid at any time without penalty or premium (subject to customary LIBOR breakage provisions).

(2)

The Term Loan A-2 interest rate spread can vary between 1.25% and 1.75%, determined on a quarterly basis by reference to a pricing grid based on our Total Net Leverage Ratio. All other applicable margins are fixed.

(3)

On May 8, 2019, $250 million was drawn. On October 1, 2019, an additional $450 million was drawn.

(4)

Per annum amortization rates for years one through five following the closing date are 2.5%, 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5% and 12.5%, respectively.

 

 

Unamortized debt issuance costs consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

   

June 30, 2020

   

December 31, 2019

 

Revolving Credit Facility portion:

               

Other noncurrent assets

  $ 2,149     $ 2,427  

Term loans portion:

               

Long-term debt (contra account)

    16,208       18,142  

Total

  $ 18,357     $ 20,569  

 

We recorded debt issuance cost amortization of $1.1 million and $1.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and $2.2 million and $2.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, within interest expense in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

 

We were in compliance with all debt covenants as of June 30, 2020. 

 

During the first quarter of 2019, we entered into two interest rate swap agreements in order to convert our interest payment obligations with respect to an aggregate of $1.2 billion of our variable rate LIBOR indebtedness to a fixed rate. Under the first swap agreement effective in March 2019, with respect to a notional amount of $850 million, our monthly payment obligation is determined at a fixed base rate of 2.653%. Under the second swap agreement effective in June 2020, with respect to a notional amount of $350 million, our monthly payment is determined at a fixed base rate of 2.739%. Both interest rate swap agreements are scheduled to mature in the first quarter of 2029 but each may be terminated prior to the scheduled maturity at our election or that of the financial institution counterparty under the terms provided in each swap agreement. We recognized losses of $5.0 million and $0.4 million on interest rate swaps during the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and $7.0 million and $0.5 million during the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, which were reflected in interest expense within the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

 

In May 2020, we completed the Public Offering of 287,500 shares of our common stock for total net proceeds of $469.8 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses. We used a portion of the net proceeds to repay in full our outstanding borrowings of $100 million under the Revolving Credit Facility in May 2020 and for the Valu-Net and Wisper transactions. We expect to use the remainder of the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including for acquisitions and strategic investments.

 

Refer to notes 9 and 11 to our audited consolidated financial statements included in the 2019 Form 10-K and notes 7 and 8 to the condensed consolidated financial statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for further details regarding our financing activity, outstanding debt and interest rate swaps.

 

Capital Expenditures

 

We have significant ongoing capital expenditure requirements as well as capital enhancements associated with acquired operations, including rebuilding low capacity markets; reclaiming bandwidth from analog video services; implementing 32-channel bonding; deploying DOCSIS 3.1; converting back office functions such as billing, accounting and service provisioning; migrating products to legacy Cable One platforms; and expanding our high-capacity fiber network. Capital expenditures are funded primarily by cash on hand and cash flows from operating activities.

 

Our capital expenditures by category for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019 were as follows (in thousands):

 

   

Six Months Ended June 30,

 
   

2020

   

2019

 

Customer premise equipment

  $ 34,227     $ 24,854  

Commercial

    22,457       11,519  

Scalable infrastructure

    23,093       21,715  

Line extensions

    9,522       11,964  

Upgrade/rebuild

    27,789       13,394  

Support capital

    26,328       27,042  

Total

  $ 143,416     $ 110,488  

 

 

Contractual Obligations and Contingent Commitments

 

As of June 30, 2020, except for the letters of credit totaling $22.0 million issued on behalf of Wisper to guarantee its performance obligations under an FCC broadband funding program, there have been no material changes to the contractual obligations and contingent commitments previously disclosed in the 2019 Form 10-K.

 

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

 

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements or financing arrangements with special-purpose entities.

 

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

 

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions. We base our estimates on historical experience and other assumptions believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

 

An accounting policy is considered to be critical if it is important to our results of operations and financial condition and if it requires management’s most difficult, subjective and complex judgments in its application.

 

Changes in Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

 

Goodwill. We test goodwill for impairment at the reporting unit level, which was historically established at the geographic division level. We reevaluate the determination of our reporting units used to test for impairment periodically or whenever events or substantive changes in circumstances occur. Effective in the second quarter of 2020, as a result of progress made in our staged rebranding initiative and the further alignment of service offerings and product pricing of recently acquired operations with our legacy business, we reevaluated the basis of our goodwill reporting units and identified a single goodwill reporting unit based on the chief operating decision maker’s current performance monitoring and resource allocation process and the similarity of our geographic divisions.

 

Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets. The unit of account for our franchise agreements was historically established at the geographic division level. We reevaluate the unit of account used to test for impairment periodically or whenever events or substantive changes in circumstances occur to ensure impairment testing is performed at an appropriate level. Effective in the second quarter of 2020, as a result of progress made in our staged rebranding initiative and the further alignment of service offerings and product pricing of recently acquired operations with our legacy business, we reevaluated the basis of our franchise agreements unit of account for use in impairment assessments and identified a single unit of account for franchise agreements based on a reevaluation of our current operations and the use of our assets.

 

Except as disclosed above, there have been no material changes to our critical accounting policy and estimate disclosures described in our 2019 Form 10-K.

 

 

ITEM 3.     QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

 

Market risk is the potential loss arising from changes in market rates and prices. There have been no material changes to the market risk disclosures described in the 2019 Form 10-K.

 

 

ITEM 4.     CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

 

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

 

The Company’s management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate disclosure controls and procedures. Disclosure controls and procedures are those controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the Company’s reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the Company’s reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, including the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

 

Under the supervision and with the participation of the Company’s management, including the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, the Company carried out an evaluation as of June 30, 2020 of the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(b) and 15d-15(b). Based on the Company’s evaluation, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of June 30, 2020.

 

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

 

There has been no change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the quarter ended June 30, 2020 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

 

 

PART II: OTHER INFORMATION

 

ITEM 1.     LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

 

None.

 

 

ITEM 1A.  RISK FACTORS

 

Except as set forth below, there have been no material changes to the risk factors previously disclosed in the 2019 Form 10-K.

 

Risks Relating to Our Business

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our operations and adversely affected our business, financial results and financial condition, and the duration and extent to which it will continue to do so is uncertain and difficult to predict.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the United States and other countries, which has resulted in international, Federal, state and local governments implementing numerous measures to try to reduce the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, including travel restrictions, quarantines, shelter in place or total lock-down orders and business limitations and shutdowns.

 

We represent a part of the United States’ critical infrastructure, and our continued operation is essential to connectivity services that are vital during the COVID‐19 pandemic. At the same time, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused us to modify our operations, including restricting our technicians from entering customer homes and businesses; closing or limiting access to local offices and our corporate headquarters for associates, customers and others; limiting non-essential travel for associates; instituting an expanded work-from-home program, including enhancing our technological capabilities to support such efforts; implementing “purpose pay” to provide a 25% premium to base pay for certain associates who are required to leave their homes to perform their essential job functions; establishing health protocols and providing personal protective equipment to protect our associates, customers and others; temporarily discontinuing charging data overage fees, waiving late charges and suspending disconnection of data services for residential and business customers who are unable to pay due to disruptions caused by the pandemic; and introducing a new lower-cost residential data plan. We have taken and may take further actions required by governmental authorities or that we determine are prudent to support the well-being of our associates, customers, suppliers, business partners and others.

 

 

As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and the related responses by us and from governmental authorities, our operations have been impacted as described above, which has resulted, and we anticipate will continue to result, in various negative impacts associated with the pandemic, such as reduced revenues from data overage fees, late charges, reconnect fees, and advertising and business services as well as increased expenses, which have combined to suppress Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — COVID-19 Update” in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for additional information. Additionally, our business, financial results and financial condition have been and could be further adversely affected in a number of ways, which may include, but is not limited to, the following:

 

further disruptions to our regular, ongoing operations and restrictions on our sales and marketing efforts, especially related to business services;

 

interruptions to our engineering, design and implementation of plant and infrastructure as well as other important business activities;

 

limitations on associate resources and availability, including in our call centers and among our technicians, due to health protocols, sickness, government restrictions, the desire of associates to avoid contact with large groups of people, school closures or other factors, which may further constrain capacity to respond to the increased demand for our products and services;

 

the potential further diversion of senior management’s attention in the event that key associates contract COVID-19 and, consequently, have limited ability or become unable to work;

 

interruptions or delays receiving and limited availability of necessary hardware, software and operational supplies, equipment and support;

 

possible further reductions of revenues, Adjusted EBITDA, and/or Adjusted EBITDA margin and increased expenses as well as greater difficulty in collecting customer receivables resulting from, among other things, our actions to assist customers and support our associates during the COVID-19 crisis;

 

a fluctuation in interest rates that could result from market uncertainties;

 

an increase in the cost of or the difficulty to obtain debt or equity financing, which could affect our financial condition or our ability to fund operations or future acquisition or investment opportunities;

 

a further delay in the implementation of our new ERP system;

 

potential legislative or regulatory efforts to impose new requirements on our data services;

 

changes to the carrying value of our goodwill and intangible assets; and

 

an increase in regulatory restrictions or continued market volatility that could hinder our ability to execute our business strategies, including acquisitions and strategic investments, as well as negatively impact our stock price.

 

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic could negatively affect our internal control over financial reporting, including as a result of a portion of our personnel working from home. Accordingly, new processes, procedures and controls have been and may continue to be required to respond to changes in our business environment.

 

The potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may also impact many of our other risk factors previously disclosed in the 2019 Form 10-K and/or the other risk factors included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. The degree to which the pandemic impacts our operations, business, financial results and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain, continuously evolving and cannot be predicted, including, but not limited to, the duration and spread of the pandemic, its severity, the actions to contain the virus or treat its impact and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume.

 

 

Implementation of our new ERP system could disrupt business operations.

 

We are planning to implement our new ERP system by the summer of 2021. The implementation requires significant investments of time, money and resources and may result in the diversion of senior management’s attention from our ongoing operations. Furthermore, the implementation will result in changes to many of our existing operational, financial and administrative business processes, including, but not limited to, our budgeting, purchasing, receiving, provisioning, servicing, accounting and reporting processes. The new ERP system will require both the implementation of new internal controls and changes to existing internal control frameworks and procedures. If additional unexpected delays, technical problems or other significant issues arise in connection with the implementation, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it could have a material negative impact on our operations, business, financial results and financial condition.

 

Risks Relating to Our Common Stock and the Securities Market

 

Certain provisions in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated By-laws and Delaware law may discourage takeovers and the concentration of ownership of our common stock will affect the voting results of matters submitted for stockholder approval.

 

Several provisions of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, Amended and Restated By-laws and Delaware law may discourage, delay or prevent a merger or acquisition that is opposed by our Board or certain stockholders holding a significant percentage of the voting power of our outstanding voting stock. These include provisions that:

 

prior to the full declassification of our board following our annual meeting of stockholders to be held in 2023, divide our Board into three classes of directors, standing for election on a staggered basis, such that only approximately one-third of the directors constituting our Board may change each year;

 

do not permit our stockholders to act by written consent and require that stockholder action must take place at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders;

 

provide that only our Chief Executive Officer and a majority of our directors, and not our stockholders, may call a special meeting of our stockholders;

 

require the approval of our Board or the affirmative vote of stockholders holding at least 66 2/3% of the voting power of our capital stock to amend our Amended and Restated By-laws; and

 

limit our ability to enter into business combination transactions with certain stockholders.

 

These and other provisions of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, Amended and Restated By-laws and Delaware law may discourage, delay or prevent certain types of transactions involving an actual or a threatened acquisition or change in control of our Company, including unsolicited takeover attempts, even though the transaction may offer our stockholders the opportunity to sell their shares of our common stock at a price above the prevailing market price.

 

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, associates or stockholders.

 

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that, subject to limited exceptions, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for any (i) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our Company, (ii) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or associate of the Company to the Company or the Company’s stockholders, (iii) action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) or (iv) action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the provisions of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation described above. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other associates, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and associates. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

 

 

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation includes provisions limiting the personal liability of our directors for breaches of fiduciary duty under the DGCL.

 

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation contains a provision permitted under the DGCL relating to the liability of directors. This provision eliminates a director’s personal liability to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL for monetary damages resulting from a breach of fiduciary duty; provided that such provision will not eliminate or limit a director’s liability:

 

for any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty;

 

for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of the law;

 

under Section 174 of the DGCL (including for unlawful dividends); or

 

for any transaction from which the director derives an improper personal benefit.

 

The principal effect of the limitation on liability provision is that a stockholder will be unable to prosecute an action for monetary damages against a director unless the stockholder can demonstrate a basis for liability for which indemnification is not available under the DGCL. This provision, however, should not limit or eliminate our rights or any stockholder’s rights to seek non-monetary relief, such as an injunction or rescission, in the event of a breach of a director’s fiduciary duty. This provision will not alter a director’s liability under federal securities laws. The inclusion of this provision in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation may discourage or deter stockholders or management from bringing a lawsuit against directors for a breach of their fiduciary duties, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise have benefited us and our stockholders.

 

 

ITEM 2.     UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

 

Certain information relating to common stock repurchases by the Company and any affiliated purchasers within the meaning of Rule 10b-18(a)(3) under the Exchange Act during the three months ended June 30, 2020 were as follows (dollars in thousands, except per share data):

 

Period

 

Total Number

of Shares

Purchased

   

Average Price

Paid Per Share

   

Total Number of

Shares Purchased

as Part of Publicly

Announced Plans

or Programs(1)

   

Approximate Dollar

Value of Shares

that May Yet Be

Purchased Under

the Plans or

Programs

 

April 1 to 30, 2020(2)

    17     $ 1,574.06       -     $ 145,081  

May 1 to 31, 2020

    -     $ -       -     $ 145,081  

June 1 to 30, 2020

    -     $ -       -     $ 145,081  

Total

    17     $ 1,574.06       -          

 


(1)

On July 1, 2015, the Board authorized up to $250 million of share repurchases (subject to a total cap of 600,000 shares of common stock), which was announced on August 7, 2015. The authorization does not have an expiration date. Purchases under the share repurchase program may be made from time to time on the open market and in privately negotiated transactions. The size and timing of these purchases are based on a number of factors, including share price and business and market conditions.

(2)

Represents shares withheld from associates to satisfy estimated tax withholding obligations in connection with the vesting of restricted stock and/or exercises of SARs under the 2015 Plan. The average price paid per share for the common stock withheld was based on the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the applicable vesting or exercise measurement date.

 

 

ITEM 3.     DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES

 

None.

 

 

ITEM 4.     MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

 

Not applicable.

 

 

ITEM 5.     OTHER INFORMATION

 

Not applicable.

 

 

ITEM 6.     EXHIBITS

 

Exhibit

Number

Description

   

3.1

Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Cable One, Inc. (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K of Cable One, Inc. filed on May 18, 2020).

   

10.1

Form of Non-Employee Director Restricted Stock Unit Award Agreement for annual equity grants beginning in 2020.*

   

10.2

Form of Non-Employee Director Restricted Stock Unit Award Agreement for grants in lieu of annual cash fees beginning in 2020.*

   

31.1

Principal Executive Officer Certification required by Rules 13a-14 and 15d-14 as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.*

 

 

31.2

Principal Financial Officer Certification required by Rules 13a-14 and 15d-14 as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.*

 

 

32

Certification of Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.**

 

101.INS

Inline XBRL Instance Document (the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document).

   

101.SCH

Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document.*

 

 

101.CAL

Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document.*

 

 

101.DEF

Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document.*

 

 

101.LAB

Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document.*

 

 

101.PRE

Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document.*

   

104

The cover page of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, formatted in Inline XBRL (included within the Exhibit 101 attachments).

__________

* Filed herewith.

** Furnished herewith.

 

 

SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

 

Cable One, Inc.

(Registrant)

 

 

 

 

By:

/s/ Julia M. Laulis

 

 

Name: 

Julia M. Laulis

 

 

Title: 

Chair of the Board, President and

Chief Executive Officer

 

 

Date: August 6, 2020

 

By:

/s/ Steven S. Cochran

 

 

Name: 

Steven S. Cochran

 

 

Title: 

Senior Vice President and

Chief Financial Officer

 

 

Date: August 6, 2020

 

36