Written by dimp on Mar 26, 2009 at 6:33 pm
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American Tower reported solid financial results for the fourth quarter. Turmoil in other sectors hurt bottom lines.
In year-over-year comparisons, total revenue increased 8 percent to $408.3 million, and rental and management segment revenue increased 6.4 percent to $394.3 million, which includes a negative effect of unfavorable foreign currency fluctuations. Rental and management segment gross margin increased 8.2 percent to $307.4 million, and network development services segment revenue and gross margin increased to $14 million and $5.9 million, respectively.
“American Tower’s strong financial results in 2008 … confirmed a number of beneficial trends within our customer base, industry sector, and company that we believe will continue through 2009 and beyond,” Jim Taiclet, American Tower’s CEO, said in a prepared text. “First [trend], wireless voice service is the preferred method of communication … and, second, wireless broadband data service … has established itself as the future revenue growth engine for wireless carriers.
“The third trend is continued demand for tower space driven by the need to be competitive with high quality wireless networks, which demand increased capacity and coverage area,” Taiclet continued.
The economy was a factor in American’s curtailment of its repurchase program of Class A common stock. During the fourth quarter, the company repurchased a total of 2.8 million shares of its Class A common stock for $79.4 million. As of Feb. 13, the company had repurchased $534.1 million under its $1.5 billion share repurchase program.