Liberty Broadband Corp (LBRDA) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to the GCI Liberty 2025 Q3 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference will be recorded today, November 5.

問候。歡迎參加 GCI Liberty 2025 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作說明）提醒各位，本次會議將於今天（11月5日）進行錄製。

I will now turn the call over to Shane Kleinstein, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我將把電話轉交給投資人關係資深副總裁 Shane Kleinstein。請繼續。

Thank you. Before we begin, we'd like to remind everyone that this call includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual events or results could differ materially due to a number of risks and uncertainties including those mentioned in the prospectus forming part of GCI Liberty's registration statement, most recent forms 10-Q followed by GCI Liberty and Liberty Broadband with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this call, and GCI Liberty and Liberty Broadband expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in GCI Liberty or Liberty Broadband's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

謝謝。在開始之前，我們想提醒大家，本次電話會議包含 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》所界定的某些前瞻性陳述。由於存在許多風險和不確定性，實際事件或結果可能與預期存在重大差異，這些風險和不確定性包括 GCI Liberty 註冊聲明中的招股說明書、GCI Liberty 和 Liberty Broadband 向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新 10-Q 表格中提到的風險和不確定性。這些前瞻性陳述僅代表截至本次電話會議之日的觀點，GCI Liberty 和 Liberty Broadband 明確聲明不承擔任何義務或責任，對本文所載的任何前瞻性陳述進行更新或修訂，以反映 GCI Liberty 或 Liberty Broadband 對此的預期發生任何變化，或任何此類陳述所依據的事件、條件或情況發生任何變化。

On today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures for GCI Liberty, including adjusted OIBDA, adjusted OIBDA margin and free cash flow. Information regarding the required definitions along with the comparable GAAP metrics and reconciliations including Schedule 1 can be found in the earnings press release issued today, which is available on GCI Liberty's website. Speaking on the call today, we have Ron Duncan, CEO of GCI Liberty; Brian Wendling; GCI Liberty's Chief Accounting and Principal Financial Officer. And during Q&A, we will answer questions related to Liberty Broadband. Members of both GCI Liberty and Liberty Broadband Management and GCI management will be available to answer questions.

在今天的電話會議上，我們將討論 GCI Liberty 的一些非 GAAP 財務指標，包括調整後的 OIBDA、調整後的 OIBDA 利潤率和自由現金流。有關所需定義以及可比較的 GAAP 指標和調節表（包括附表 1）的信息，可以在今天發布的盈利新聞稿中找到，該新聞稿可在 GCI Liberty 的網站上找到。今天參加電話會議的有：GCI Liberty 執行長 Ron Duncan；GCI Liberty 首席會計和財務長 Brian Wendling。在問答環節，我們將回答與 Liberty Broadband 相關的問題。GCI Liberty 和 Liberty Broadband 管理層以及 GCI 管理層的成員將到場回答問題。

With that, I will turn the call over to Ron.

接下來，我將把電話交給羅恩。

Good morning. GCI had a solid quarter, building on an already strong year and the business is performing largely in line with expectations. We are proud to say we are tracking towards a record adjusted OIBDA in 2025, a huge milestone for the company. Our consumer business continued to add wireless lines. Our business unit continues to deliver the benefits of last year's strong sales cycle, and we have streamlined to become a pure-play connectivity provider following the exit of our video business this quarter.

早安.GCI本季業績穩健，延續了全年強勁的勢頭，業務表現基本符合預期。我們很自豪地說，我們正朝著 2025 年調整後 OIBDA 創紀錄的目標邁進，這對公司來說是一個巨大的里程碑。我們的消費者業務持續增加無線線路。我們的業務部門繼續享受去年強勁銷售週期帶來的好處，並且在本季度退出視訊業務後，我們已精簡成為一家純粹的連接服務提供商。

As mentioned last quarter, our rural operations this year have been adversely impacted by an outage from a fiber break in the Arctic Ocean in January on a third-party network in which GCI uses capacity. In early September, our partner was able to repair the broken fiber. We moved quickly to restore our consumer wireless and Internet customers as well as business customers that had lost service. All customers are operational as of the end of the third quarter. Unfortunately, in early October, Typhoon Halong hit Southwest Alaska with devastating consequences.

如同上個季度所提到的，今年1月，由於北冰洋發生光纖斷裂，導致GCI使用的第三方網路中斷，我們的農村業務受到了不利影響。9月初，我們的合作夥伴修復了損壞的光纖。我們迅速採取行動，恢復了失去服務的消費者無線和網路使用者以及企業用戶的服務。截至第三季末，所有客戶均已恢復營運。不幸的是，10月初，颱風「哈龍」襲擊了阿拉斯加西南部，造成了毀滅性的後果。

Two villages, Kipnuk and Kwigillingok were destroyed with dozens of other villages very hard hit. While we do not expect any material impact on our business in the near term, we are still in the early days of assessing the longer-term plans for a rebuilding effort in the broader area including the potential loss of locations served for clinics and schools. We grew consumer wireless subscribers 2% year-over-year, ending the quarter with 207,500 subscribers. During the quarter, we added 500 consumer wireless lines. On the data side, we saw a 3% decline year-over-year, ending the quarter with 153,100 cable modem subscribers.

基普努克村和奎吉林戈克村被摧毀，另有數十個村莊遭受重創。雖然我們預計短期內不會對我們的業務產生任何實質影響，但我們仍處於評估更廣泛區域重建工作的長期計劃的早期階段，其中包括診所和學校服務地點可能喪失的問題。我們的消費者無線用戶數量年增 2%，本季末用戶數量達到 207,500 人。本季度，我們新增了 500 條消費者無線線路。數據方面，年減了 3%，本季末有線調變解調器用戶數為 153,100 人。

During the quarter, we lost 1,400 data subscribers. The decline of data subscribers over the past year is largely due to competition, including wireless substitution as well as the aforementioned break on the third-party network in which GCI uses capacity. During the third quarter, we exited the video business. This will not have a significant impact on revenue or cost of sales, but will allow us to avoid future capital expenditures in the business with no margin and to focus on the core connectivity products that our consumers want most. As I mentioned last quarter, the adjusted OIBDA growth rates we reported in the first half of the year benefited from a series of nonrecurring tailwinds with an expected deceleration in the back half of the year.

本季我們流失了 1400 名數據用戶。過去一年數據用戶數量的下降主要是由於競爭，包括無線替代以及前面提到的 GCI 使用容量的第三方網路中斷。第三季度，我們退出了視訊業務。這不會對收入或銷售成本產生重大影響，但可以讓我們避免未來在沒有利潤的業務中進行資本支出，並專注於我們的消費者最需要的核心連結產品。正如我上個季度提到的，我們上半年報告的調整後 OIBDA 成長率受益於一系列非經常性利好因素，預計下半年將放緩。

We fully lapped the upsell cycle in schools, which began in the third quarter of 2024. We also incurred additional SG&A spend in the third quarter as compared to the prior year due to increased personnel expense including higher health care costs and expenses related to accrued employee incentive payments. We are proud of the progress both financially and operationally this year. We remain focused on improving our infrastructure to deliver high-quality service to our customers, furthering our rural expansion to bridge the digital divide and increasing the efficiency of our business. I'll go into a bit more detail in several areas.

我們完全錯過了學校的追加銷售週期，該週期從 2024 年第三季開始。與去年同期相比，由於人員費用增加（包括醫療保健成本上升和與應計員工激勵金相關的費用），我們在第三季度產生了額外的銷售、一般及行政費用。我們對今年在財務和營運方面取得的進展感到自豪。我們將繼續致力於改善基礎設施，為客戶提供高品質的服務，進一步拓展農村業務，彌合數位鴻溝，並提高業務效率。我將在幾個方面進行更詳細的闡述。

Starting with our network infrastructure. We are offering 2.5 gigabit broadband connectivity everywhere that has fiber middle mile, which covers an overwhelming majority of our customers. Material progress is being made in improving the broadband network in Anchorage as we are in the process of upgrading the core, reducing node sizes and upgrading to 1.8 gigahertz. Our initial deployment is yielding positive results, and we plan to significantly scale the deployment of our hybrid fiber coax network next year. All the work that we are doing is DOCSIS 4.0 or 4.0 capable enabling speeds that are multiple times of that which we have today.

首先從我們的網路基礎設施說起。我們為所有擁有光纖中間線路的地區提供 2.5 千兆寬頻連接，覆蓋了我們絕大多數的客戶。安克雷奇的寬頻網路正在得到實質改善，我們正在升級核心網絡，縮小節點尺寸，並升級到 1.8 吉赫茲。我們的初步部署取得了積極成果，我們計劃明年大幅擴大混合光纖同軸電纜網路的部署規模。我們正在做的所有工作都是 DOCSIS 4.0 或 4.0 相容的，其速度是現在速度的數倍。

We will be rolling this out to other markets starting in 2026, allowing us to get to 5 gigabits and ultimately beyond. We believe these changes will not only lead to higher speeds, but also in network with fewer maintenance requirements. The strength of this offering positions us well against competitors today and into the future. On wireless, our unlimited test drive promotion continue to support subscriber growth in the third quarter. As a reminder, this promotion offers our broadband customers an attractive discounted price to gain access to unlimited broadband and add a wireless line free of charge.

我們將從 2026 年開始將這項技術推廣到其他市場，使我們能夠達到 5 千兆比特，並最終實現更高的速度。我們相信這些改變不僅會帶來更高的速度，還會減少網路維護需求。憑藉這一優勢，我們在當今和未來都擁有強大的競爭力。在無線業務方面，我們的無限量試用促銷活動在第三季持續支援用戶成長。再次提醒，本促銷活動為我們的寬頻客戶提供極具吸引力的折扣價，可享有無限流量寬頻服務並免費添加一條無線線路。

We expect to roll out other new pricing and promotional offers next year to best maximize quality and value for our customers. Through continued investment in our network, we believe we will be able to offer 5G wireless service to all of Alaska over the coming years. We continue to bridge the digital divide in Alaska with our rural expansion. On the Alaska plan, we expect to complete the first phase and meet our build-out requirements in 2026 and increased wireless speeds in the communities we're serving. Additionally, the FCC's new Alaska Connect fund will extend the Alaska plan and increase the amount of funding support, which will aid in the deployment of 5G wireless throughout Alaska.

我們預計明年將推出其他新的定價和促銷優惠，以最大限度地提高客戶的品質和價值。透過持續投資我們的網絡，我們相信在未來幾年內，我們將能夠為阿拉斯加全境提供 5G 無線服務。我們透過向阿拉斯加農村地區擴張，持續縮小阿拉斯加的數位落差。在阿拉斯加計畫中，我們預計將於 2026 年完成第一階段並滿足我們的建設要求，並提高我們所服務社區的無線網路速度。此外，FCC 的新阿拉斯加連接基金將擴大阿拉斯加計劃的覆蓋範圍，並增加資金支持，這將有助於在阿拉斯加部署 5G 無線網路。

Turning to BEAD. GCI was provisionally awarded subject to NTIA approval, three sub grants totaling over $140 million. These sub grants will support the build-out of infrastructure to and within communities in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta and the expansion of GCI's anchorage local access network to four new neighborhoods. Any funding that GCI is ultimately awarded will offset our capital costs as we expand in unserved locations. Other items.

轉向珠子。GCI 已獲得三項子撥款的暫定資格，但需經 NTIA 批准，總額超過 1.4 億美元。這些子撥款將支持在育空-庫斯科奎姆三角洲社區及其內部建設基礎設施，並將 GCI 的錨地本地接入網路擴展到四個新社區。GCI最終獲得的任何資金都將抵消我們在未覆蓋地區擴張時的資本成本。其他物品。

From a macro perspective, looking at the Alaska economy in mid-October, the administration announced plans to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. This increase in oil and gas activity, along with the potential deployment of a gas pipeline could grow the Alaska economy and provide an opportunity for increased demand for our services. And finally, as we announced today, we intend to launch shortly a rights offering to raise approximately $300 million in proceeds. In the offering, all holders of our common stock would receive transferable rights to acquire shares of LibK at a discount to the market. Our Chairman, John Malone, has stated his intention to fully support the offering by exercising his rights in full and oversubscribing for any remaining shares available.

從宏觀角度來看，10月中旬，阿拉斯加州政府宣布計畫開放北極國家野生動物保護區進行鑽探活動。石油和天然氣活動的增加，以及天然氣管道的潛在部署，可能會促進阿拉斯加經濟成長，並為我們的服務帶來更多需求。最後，正如我們今天宣布的那樣，我們計劃很快啟動配股，以籌集約 3 億美元的資金。在本次發行中，我們所有普通股持有人將獲得可轉讓的權利，以低於市價的價格購買 LibK 的股份。我們的董事長約翰·馬龍已表示，他將全力支持此次發行，充分行使認購權，超額認購任何剩餘股份。

We intend to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes including potential future M&A. We believe this is an attractive source of liquidity and will provide value to our shareholder base. We refer you to the related registration statement being filed later today for more details. In summary, we continue to deliver high-quality service to the State of Alaska with both the breadth and caliber of our network. We believe the quality of our infrastructure and durability of our financial results will drive value for our customers, partners and shareholders.

我們計劃將所得款項用於一般公司用途，包括未來潛在的併購。我們認為這是一個有吸引力的流動性來源，並將為我們的股東創造價值。更多詳情請參閱今天稍後提交的相關註冊聲明。總而言之，憑藉我們網路的廣度和質量，我們將繼續為阿拉斯加州提供高品質的服務。我們相信，我們基礎設施的品質和財務表現的穩定性將為我們的客戶、合作夥伴和股東創造價值。

With that, I'll turn it to Brian to discuss the financials in more detail.

接下來，我將把發言權交給布萊恩，讓他更詳細地討論財務問題。

Thanks, Ron, and good morning, everyone. At quarter end, GCI Liberty had consolidated cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $137 million and total principal amount of debt of approximately $1 billion. At quarter end, GCI's leverage as defined by its credit agreement, was 2.3x and GCI's credit facility had $377 million of undrawn capacity net of letters of credit. In the third quarter, $10 million of nonvoting preferred stock at GCI Liberty was issued to Liberty Broadband and then sold by Liberty Broadband to third-party buyers. The GCI Liberty nonvoting preferred stock pays a 12% dividend with a redemption date in 2032.

謝謝你，羅恩，大家早安。截至季末，GCI Liberty 合併現金、現金等價物和受限現金為 1.37 億美元，債務本金總額約為 10 億美元。截至季末，GCI 依照其信貸協議定義的槓桿率為 2.3 倍，GCI 的信貸額度在扣除信用狀後還有 3.77 億美元的未提取額度。第三季度，GCI Liberty 向 Liberty Broadband 發行了 1000 萬美元的無投票權優先股，然後 Liberty Broadband 將這些優先股出售給了第三方買家。GCI Liberty 無投票權優先股支付 12% 的股息，贖回日期為 2032 年。

During the quarter, we took a noncash impairment charge on our indefinite-lived intangible assets totaling $525 million. These intangibles were originally recorded as part of the 2020 acquisition of GCI Liberty by Liberty Broadband when cable multiples were much higher. As part of the spin and seeing the post-spin trading values, we reevaluated the recoverability of these intangibles during the third quarter. The impairment is included in operating loss, but excluded from adjusted OIBDA. Now turning to GCI's operating results.

本季度，我們對無限期使用壽命的無形資產提列了 5.25 億美元的非現金減損費用。這些無形資產最初是在 Liberty Broadband 於 2020 年收購 GCI Liberty 時記錄的，當時有線電視的估值倍數要高得多。作為分拆計畫的一部分，並且根據分拆後的交易價值，我們在第三季重新評估了這些無形資產的可回收性。減損損失計入營業虧損，但不計入調整後的 OIBDA。現在來看GCI的經營績效。

GCI generated total revenue of $257 million representing a 2% decrease in the third quarter. Revenue declined primarily due to exiting the video business in the quarter, adjusted OIBDA of $92 million, decreased 8%. The decline was driven by lower revenue and higher SG&A expense from increased personnel expense, including higher health care costs and growth in accrued employee incentive payments, partially offset by reduced operating expenses from lower distribution costs. Consumer revenue declined 4% to $115 million. The majority of the decline was driven by a decline in video and data revenue, slightly offset by growth in consumer wireless.

GCI第三季總營收為2.57億美元，比上一季下降了2%。營收下降主要是由於本季退出視訊業務，調整後 OIBDA 為 9,200 萬美元，下降 8%。收入下降和人員支出增加導致的銷售、一般及行政費用增加（包括醫療保健成本增加和員工激勵性付款增加）是造成業績下滑的主要原因，但分銷成本降低導致的營運費用減少部分抵消了這一下滑。消費者收入下降 4% 至 1.15 億美元。此次下滑主要由視訊和數據收入下降所致，消費者無線業務的成長略微抵消了這一影響。

Consumer wireless revenue increased 11% to $52 million, benefiting from subscriber growth and an increase in federal wireless subsidies. Consumer gross margin increased to 72.2%, driven by a decline in consumer direct costs resulting from decreases in video programming costs and temporary cost savings from the Quintillion fiber break. As a reminder, the Quintillion fiber break was fully restored in September. Business revenue was flat at $142 million. We have now fully lapped the strong upgrade cycle starting in the third quarter of last year.

消費者無線業務收入成長 11% 至 5,200 萬美元，受益於用戶成長和聯邦無線補貼增加。受視訊節目製作成本下降和 Quintillion 光纖中斷帶來的暫時性成本節約的影響，消費者直接成本下降，消費者毛利率增加至 72.2%。再次提醒，Quintillion 光纖中斷已於 9 月完全恢復。營業收入持平，為 1.42 億美元。我們現在已經完全度過了從去年第三季開始的強勁升級週期。

Business wireless revenue declined $1 million or 9%, driven by a slight decline in roaming revenue and business gross margin increased to 78.2% primarily due to temporary cost savings from the Quintillion fiber break combined with data revenue growth. Capital expenditures net of grant proceeds totaled $52 million during the quarter. Year-to-date, GCI had approximately $152 million in net CapEx investment. We now expect full year CapEx to be in the range of $225 million to $250 million, with the lower end of the range, driven by normal course timing shifts and planned CapEx projects. We still expect that 2026 will be our peak year for CapEx spend and that CapEx will step down meaningfully after 2026.

受漫遊收入略微下降的影響，企業無線收入下降了 100 萬美元，降幅達 9%；企業毛利率上升至 78.2%，這主要是由於 Quintillion 光纖中斷帶來的暫時性成本節約以及數據收入的增長。本季扣除撥款收益後的資本支出總額為 5,200 萬美元。今年迄今為止，GCI 的淨資本支出投資約為 1.52 億美元。我們現在預計全年資本支出將在 2.25 億美元至 2.5 億美元之間，其中較低的部分是由於正常的進度調整和計劃中的資本支出項目所致。我們仍預期 2026 年將是資本支出達到高峰的一年，2026 年後資本支出將大幅下降。

GCI generated $155 million of free cash flow on a trailing 12-month basis through the end of the third quarter. We believe presenting free cash flow on a trailing 12-month basis more accurately demonstrates our cash generation and liquidity profile by minimizing seasonal fluctuations, particularly around the timing of USF cash receipts.

截至第三季末，GCI過去12個月的自由現金流為1.55億美元。我們認為，以過去 12 個月為基礎呈現自由現金流，可以更準確地反映我們的現金產生和流動性狀況，從而最大限度地減少季節性波動，尤其是在 USF 現金收入的時間方面。

And with that, I will turn the call back over to you, Ron.

那麼，我就把電話交還給你了，羅恩。

Thank you, Brian. We appreciate your interest in GCI Liberty and look forward to continuing to update you on our progress. Before we open for Q&A, I want to take a moment to recognize and congratulate Shane Kleinstein, our Head of Investor Relations, on her last earnings call with us. She has been instrumental in our Investor Relations function and has left an indelible mark on our company. On behalf of the entire GCI Liberty team.

謝謝你，布萊恩。感謝您對 GCI Liberty 的關注，我們期待繼續向您報告我們的最新進展。在正式進入問答環節之前，我想花一點時間表揚並祝賀我們的投資者關係主管 Shane Kleinstein，感謝她最後一次與我們進行財報電話會議。她對我們的投資者關係工作起到了至關重要的作用，並為我們公司留下了不可磨滅的印記。我謹代表整個GCI Liberty團隊。

Thank you, Shane, and we wish you the best in your future endeavors. We will have a new Head of Investor Relations, joining us and look forward to sharing that update in the future. In the meantime, we encourage you to please continue to reach out to the rest of the IR team or e-mail us at investor@gciliberty.com with questions.

謝謝你，肖恩，祝你未來一切順利。我們將迎來一位新的投資者關係主管，期待在未來與大家分享這項最新進展。同時，我們鼓勵您繼續與投資者關係團隊的其他成員聯繫，或發送電子郵件至 investor@gciliberty.com 提出問題。

With that, we'll open the call up for Q&A.

接下來，我們將開放問答環節。

Mr. Duncan, it seems we have no questions at this time. I'll turn the floor back to you.

鄧肯先生，目前我們似乎沒有其他問題了。我現在把麥克風交還給你。

Okay. Well, thank you all very much for your participation this morning. And as stated previously, we are available for questions through the IR team and the website. Everyone, have a good day. Thank you.

好的。非常感謝各位今天上午的參與。如前所述，您可以透過投資者關係團隊和網站聯繫我們，提出您的問題。祝大家今天過得愉快。謝謝。

Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以在此時斷開線路。感謝您的參與。