Liberty Broadband Corp (LBRDK) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Liberty Broadband 2023 Q1 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, this conference will be recorded on May 2, and I would now like to turn the conference over to Shane Kleinstein, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

歡迎參加 Liberty Broadband 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）。提醒一下，本次會議將於 5 月 2 日進行錄製，我現在將會議交給投資者關係副總裁 Shane Kleinstein。請繼續。

Thank you, and good afternoon. 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 most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed by Liberty Broadband and Liberty TripAdvisor with the SEC.

謝謝你，下午好。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》含義內的某些前瞻性陳述。由於許多風險和不確定因素，實際事件或結果可能會存在重大差異，包括Liberty Broadband 和 Liberty TripAdvisor 向 SEC 提交的最新 10-K 和 10-Q 表格中提到的內容。

These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this call, and Liberty Broadband and Liberty TripAdvisor expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Liberty Broadband or Liberty TripAdvisor's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

這些前瞻性陳述僅代表本次電話會議之日的情況，Liberty Broadband 和 Liberty TripAdvisor 明確表示不承擔任何義務或承諾傳播本文中包含的任何前瞻性陳述的任何更新或修訂，以反映 Liberty Broadband 或 Liberty 的任何變化TripAdvisor 對此的期望或任何此類聲明所依據的事件、條件或情況的任何變化。

On today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures for Liberty Broadband, including adjusted OIBDA. Information regarding the comparable GAAP metrics, along with required definitions and reconciliations, including preliminary notes schedules 1 and 2, can be found in the earnings press release issued today as well as earnings releases for prior periods, which are available on Liberty Broadband's website. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Greg Maffei, Liberty's President and CEO.

在今天的電話會議上，我們將討論 Liberty Broadband 的某些非 GAAP 財務指標，包括調整後的 OIBDA。有關可比 GAAP 指標的信息以及所需的定義和調節，包括初步說明附表 1 和 2，可以在今天發布的收益新聞稿以及前期收益發布中找到，這些信息可在 Liberty Broadband 網站上找到。現在我想將電話轉給 Liberty 總裁兼首席執行官 Greg Maffei。

Thank you, Shane, and good afternoon to all. Today speaking on the call, we will also have Liberty Broadband's Chief Accounting and Principal Financial Officer, Brian Wendling; Ron Duncan, CEO of GCI; and Pete Pounds, CFO of GCI will also be available to answer questions. I'd note also during the Q&A, we will be happy to answer questions related to Liberty TripAdvisor. But note, Liberty -- TripAdvisor rather has not yet reported its Q1 results, so we will be unable to comment on the current quarter.

謝謝你，肖恩，祝大家下午好。今天在電話會議上發言的還有 Liberty Broadband 的首席會計兼首席財務官 Brian Wendling；羅恩·鄧肯 (Ron Duncan)，GCI 首席執行官； GCI 首席財務官 Pete Pounds 也將出席並回答問題。我還想在問答環節中指出，我們很樂意回答與 Liberty TripAdvisor 相關的問題。但請注意，Liberty - TripAdvisor 尚未報告其第一季度業績，因此我們無法對當前季度發表評論。

So beginning with Liberty Broadband, in the first quarter, we issued $1.3 billion of a 3 1/8% Charter exchangeable. And we used the proceeds and some cash we had on hand to repurchase $1.4 billion of Charter's exchangeable debt that was due this year. Note that also, since we are under the 26% fully diluted ownership cap, early this year, driven by Charter's annual compensation grants, we have not bought any stock back since January, any of the Charter stock back.

因此，從 Liberty Broadband 開始，我們在第一季度發行了 13 億美元的 3 1/8% 可交換特許證。我們用所得款項和手頭的一些現金回購了今年到期的 14 億美元的 Charter 可交換債務。另請注意，由於我們的股權上限為 26%，今年年初，在 Charter 年度薪酬補助的推動下，我們自 1 月份以來就沒有回購任何股票，也沒有回購任何 Charter 股票。

We have not sold any into the buyback since January. We expect to resume sales into Charter's buyback pursuant to our stockholder agreement, though we do anticipate lighter buybacks this year at Charter due to investments by the company. With the near-term liabilities addressed, our plan is also to resume LBRDA and LBRAK buybacks using the majority of our after-tax proceeds from those charter share sales. And looking at Charter itself, we had solid operating results.

自一月份以來，我們還沒有出售任何股票進行回購。我們預計根據我們的股東協議，將恢復對 Charter 回購的銷售，儘管我們確實預計由於公司的投資，今年 Charter 的回購規模會減少。在解決短期負債後，我們還計劃利用這些特許股票銷售的大部分稅後收益恢復 LBRDA 和 LBRAK 回購。看看憲章本身，我們擁有穩健的運營業績。

We added 76,000 new Internet subs in the quarter, good growth given the current broadband environment, and that was a sequential improvement through Q1. Mobile continues to be an area of continued strength. Spectrum One is resonating in the market. I'd note, beginning in the fourth quarter, these free lines associated with Spectrum One will be converted to paid, and we expect them to drive margin improvement and a tailwind to EBITDA growth.

我們在本季度新增了 76,000 個互聯網用戶，考慮到當前的寬帶環境，增長良好，並且是第一季度的環比改善。移動仍然是一個持續強勢的領域。 Spectrum One 正在市場上引起共鳴。我要指出的是，從第四季度開始，與 Spectrum One 相關的這些免費線路將轉換為付費線路，我們預計它們將推動利潤率改善並推動 EBITDA 增長。

So we added 686,000 mobile lines in that first quarter, nearly double what we did last year. Cable share of mobile ads -- total mobile ads continues to increase and is estimated to be 55% in the first quarter versus 35% in the fourth quarter. We have overall reported good financial results. Revenue was up 3.4%, and EBITDA was up 2.6% during a period of heightened investment.

因此，我們在第一季度增加了 686,000 條移動線路，幾乎是去年的兩倍。移動廣告的有線份額——移動廣告總量持續增加，預計第一季度將達到 55%，而第四季度為 35%。我們總體報告了良好的財務業績。在投資增加期間，收入增長了 3.4%，EBITDA 增長了 2.6%。

Broadband revenue was up 5%, benefiting from both ARPU and customer growth. Broadband ARPU alone was up 4%. We are pleased with some of the progress that is underway at Charter on key initiative investments that Chris and his team have made, including on the network upgrade, the rural build and mobile convergence. And with that, I'd like to turn it over to Brian to discuss the financial results in more detail.

受益於 ARPU 和客戶增長，寬帶收入增長 5%。僅寬帶 ARPU 就增長了 4%。我們對 Chris 和他的團隊在 Charter 的關鍵舉措投資方面取得的一些進展感到高興，包括網絡升級、農村建設和移動融合。說到這裡，我想把它交給布萊恩來更詳細地討論財務結果。

Thank you, Greg. At quarter end, Liberty Broadband had consolidated cash and cash equivalents of $169 million, which includes $59 million of cash held directly at GCI. The value of our Charter investment based on our shares held at May 1 and Charter share price at today's close was $16.8 billion. At quarter end, Liberty broadband had a total principal amount of debt of $3.8 billion.

謝謝你，格雷格。截至季度末，Liberty Broadband 的合併現金和現金等價物為 1.69 億美元，其中包括直接在 GCI 持有的 5900 萬美元現金。根據我們 5 月 1 日持有的股票和今天收盤時的 Charter 股價，我們的 Charter 投資價值為 168 億美元。截至季度末，Liberty寬帶的債務本金總額為38億美元。

Note, this excludes preferred stock and remaining indemnification obligation. As Greg mentioned, we did not have proceeds from Charter share sales in the period from February 1 through April 30. We do expect to resume our share sales to Charter as required in our stockholder agreement to maintain our fully diluted ownership percentage of 26%.

請注意，這不包括優先股和剩餘賠償義務。正如格雷格提到的，從 2 月 1 日到 4 月 30 日期間，我們沒有從 Charter 出售股票獲得收益。我們確實希望按照股東協議的要求恢復向 Charter 出售股票，以維持我們 26% 的完全攤薄後所有權百分比。

For the full year 2023, our annual tax guidance on Charter share sales remains in the 7% to 13% range. Looking at GCI. GCI had a good first quarter. Solid performance has allowed the company to spend $40 million in dividends up to Liberty Broadband during the quarter, and we'd expect additional dividends to be paid this year. Leverage, as defined in its credit agreement, was 2.87% -- or 2.87x as of quarter end. And GCI has $397 million of undrawn capacity under its revolver.

2023 年全年，我們對特許股票銷售的年度稅收指導仍保持在 7% 至 13% 的範圍內。看看GCI。 GCI 第一季度表現良好。穩健的業績使該公司在本季度向 Liberty Broadband 支付了 4000 萬美元的股息，我們預計今年將支付額外的股息。截至季度末，信貸協議中定義的槓桿率為 2.87%，即 2.87 倍。 GCI 的左輪手槍擁有 3.97 億美元的未動用產能。

Revenue and adjusted OIBDA were up $13 million and $3 million, respectively. The revenue growth was led by additional data sales, primarily to our RHC and school customers, which was partially offset by continued declines in our video business, which significantly impacts revenue, but does not meaningfully impact free cash flow. Adjusted OIBDA grew less than revenue primarily as a result of inflationary pressures, primarily in labor and lapping a couple of onetime benefits recognized last year in bad debt and property taxes.

收入和調整後的 OIBDA 分別增長 1300 萬美元和 300 萬美元。收入增長主要是由額外的數據銷售帶動的，主要是針對我們的 RHC 和學校客戶，這部分被我們視頻業務的持續下滑所抵消，這對收入產生了重大影響，但不會對自由現金流產生重大影響。調整後的 OIBDA 增長低於收入，主要是由於通貨膨脹壓力，主要是勞動力方面的壓力，以及去年在壞賬和財產稅中確認的一些一次性福利。

Over the last year, GCI has added nearly 6,500 revenue-generating wireless subscribers and nearly 4,500 cable modem customers. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Greg.

去年，GCI 增加了近 6,500 個創收無線用戶和近 4,500 個電纜調製解調器客戶。然後，我會將電話轉回給格雷格。

Thanks, Brian. To the listening audience, we appreciate your continued interest in Liberty Broadband and Liberty TripAdvisor. And with that, operator, I'd like to open the line for questions.

謝謝，布萊恩。對於聽眾來說，我們感謝您對 Liberty Broadband 和 Liberty TripAdvisor 的持續關注。那麼，接線員，我想開通提問熱線。

(Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from Barton Crockett with Rosenblatt Securities.

（操作員說明）。我們的第一個問題來自羅森布拉特證券公司的巴頓·克羅克特。

Okay. And really, I think, for you, Greg, and also maybe by implication and extension to GCI, I'm just curious, Greg, about your view of the substance of the promotional kind of push that Charter is making into mobile, which obviously has been subject to some back and forth with Charter and T-Mobile. And really, the question is, are they adding substance or kind of empty calories in terms of the subscribers that they're bringing on with essentially buy one, get one free push and the low pricing?

好的。事實上，我認為，對於你來說，格雷格，也許也通過暗示和延伸到 GCI，我只是好奇，格雷格，你對 Charter 正在向移動領域進行的促銷推動的實質內容的看法，這顯然是與 Charter 和 T-Mobile 之間存在一些來回矛盾。事實上，問題是，他們是否在吸引訂閱者方面添加了實質內容或某種空卡路里，這些訂閱者本質上是買一送一，並且價格低廉？

Do you think that this is something that can drive EBITDA growth? Or are they empty calories? And if it does drive EBITDA growth, are there some elements of it that are extensible to GCI up there in Alaska?

您認為這可以推動 EBITDA 增長嗎？或者它們是空卡路里？如果它確實推動了 EBITDA 增長，其中是否有一些元素可以擴展到阿拉斯加的 GCI？

I'll take the first part and comment on Charter and then let Ron talk about the implications for GCI. So thanks, Bart, for the question. Look, I think this is a great strategy. I think unlike many, we're still mostly not subsidizing devices, but we are subsidizing lines that are relatively low cost for us that we expect will add substantial margin really kicking in the fourth quarter.

我將討論第一部分並對 Charter 進行評論，然後讓 Ron 談談對 GCI 的影響。謝謝巴特提出的問題。聽著，我認為這是一個很棒的策略。我認為與許多人不同的是，我們仍然基本上不補貼設備，但我們正在補貼對我們來說成本相對較低的產品線，我們預計這將在第四季度真正增加可觀的利潤。

They are probably contributing to some of our broadband growth and certainly will continue to contribute to our reduced churn. And I think it's a win for us to broaden our relationship and our EBITDA potential out of every household every client, every customer. So I think it's a great strategy, and we're fully behind it. Ron?

它們可能對我們的寬帶增長做出了一些貢獻，並且肯定會繼續為我們減少客戶流失做出貢獻。我認為，擴大我們與每個家庭、每個客戶、每個客戶的關係和 EBITDA 潛力，對我們來說是一場胜利。所以我認為這是一個很棒的策略，我們完全支持它。羅恩？

Thank you. Our mobile situation is a little different than Charter's because we're our own mobile network operator. We're not a reseller. So our economics are different and help us drive EBITDA a little sooner. But we are bundling, and we're bundling heavy. We have almost 20% of our data customers and almost 40% of our wireless customers on what we call our GCI+ plan. It's a very substantial savings to the consumer.

謝謝。我們的移動情況與 Charter 的略有不同，因為我們是自己的移動網絡運營商。我們不是經銷商。因此，我們的經濟狀況有所不同，這有助於我們更快地提高 EBITDA。但我們正在捆綁，而且捆綁得很重。我們有近 20% 的數據客戶和近 40% 的無線客戶使用我們所謂的 GCI+ 計劃。這對消費者來說是一筆非常可觀的節省。

It's beneficial for us, and it also very materially reduces churn. We're experiencing churn for both bundled data and wireless customers that's half or less than the stand-alone product churn. So for us, it's a good EBITDA generator. And it's a very, very powerful inoculant against churn. So we're very, very enthusiastic on the combination of the wireless and the wired data.

這對我們來說是有益的，而且也極大地減少了客戶流失。我們所經歷的捆綁數據和無線客戶流失率是獨立產品流失率的一半或更少。所以對我們來說，它是一個很好的 EBITDA 生成器。它是一種非常非常強大的防止客戶流失的孕育劑。因此，我們對無線和有線數據的結合非常非常熱衷。

That's helpful. And then if I can...

這很有幫助。然後如果我可以的話...

I also would note one more thing, Bart, if I could go. As we continue to build out this space of mobile subscribers, I think 2 benefits are going to happen down the line: one is that will be a substantial group of customers with whom to negotiate for a subsequent MVNO. And as we scale, the opportunity to build out in the most attractive markets and utilize the CBRS spectrum that we purchased is another opportunity to enhance margins. So I like the strategy.

巴特，如果我可以去的話，我還要注意一件事。隨著我們繼續擴大移動用戶的空間，我認為最終將會產生兩個好處：一是將有大量客戶與他們就後續的 MVNO 進行談判。隨著我們規模的擴大，在最具吸引力的市場開展業務並利用我們購買的 CBRS 頻譜的機會是提高利潤的另一個機會。所以我喜歡這個策略。

Okay. That's great. And then I was just curious in terms of Alaska, I was just wondering if you could comment on how the consumer is feeling there? There's still many questions about the macro backdrop, and I don't think people often ask about Alaska as an indicator, but I'd be kind of curious, what are you seeing out there?

好的。那太棒了。然後我只是對阿拉斯加感到好奇，我只是想知道您是否可以評論一下消費者在那裡的感受？關於宏觀背景仍然有很多問題，我認為人們不會經常問阿拉斯加作為一個指標，但我有點好奇，你在那裡看到了什麼？

So I'm not sure we're a very good indicator of the nation because we tend to be countercyclical, and our economy still is struggling up here in terms of adding and losing residents in the state. But the consumer, as far as we can tell, seems to be doing fine. Bad debt has come up slightly since last year, but it's still very well below the pandemic.

所以我不確定我們是一個很好的國家指標，因為我們往往是反週期的，而且我們的經濟在該州居民的增加和減少方面仍然舉步維艱。但據我們所知，消費者似乎表現良好。自去年以來，壞賬略有上升，但仍遠低於大流行病的水平。

We're -- tight for employees, have a hard time finding them. People still seem to have money to spend. We don't see any signs of the consumers slowing down in our business, and we're probably less robust than most of the markets in the Lower 48.

我們的員工緊張，很難找到他們。人們似乎仍然有錢可花。我們沒有看到消費者對我們業務放緩的任何跡象，而且我們可能不如 48 個州的大多數市場強勁。

Our next question comes from James Ratcliffe with Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 James Ratcliffe。

Two, if I could. Greg, first of all, any update on the prospect for listing the Charter ownership cap? But it's been a moot point of late because the buybacks have eased off, still being below 26%, but thoughts on whether that's appealing and what the prospects of doing that are? And secondly, just any update on where you're seeing tax leakage from the buyback and using to fund other buybacks?

兩個，如果可以的話。格雷格，首先，關於列出特許所有權上限的前景有什麼最新消息嗎？但最近這一直是一個有爭議的問題，因為回購已經放緩，仍低於 26%，但考慮一下這是否有吸引力以及這樣做的前景如何？其次，是否有任何關於您在回購中看到的稅收洩漏以及用於為其他回購提供資金的情況的最新信息？

Yes. Thanks for the question, James. On the first point about lifting the cap, had some discussions with management and independent Board members, and I believe there is -- now that we're post settlement on some shareholder issues, I think there's more openness to that. I don't think I'm misspeaking Chris' view that Liberty is a positive as a substantial shareholder, long-term shareholder and that having us increase is only a statement that would speak to our belief in the company, which I think it would.

是的。謝謝你的提問，詹姆斯。關於取消上限的第一點，我們與管理層和獨立董事會成員進行了一些討論，我相信現在我們已經就一些股東問題達成和解，我認為對此有更多的開放性。我不認為我誤解了克里斯的觀點，即自由作為大股東、長期股東是積極的，讓我們增加股份只是一個聲明，可以表達我們對公司的信念，我認為這會。

And having more of the buyback devoted to other shareholders, non-Liberty shareholders would be a positive in the marketplace. So lots of reasons why we think it's good, and I believe Chris feels the same. I've had, as I said, some positive discussions with independent Board members, though we're certainly not complete on that. I do think you're right to note it'd probably be less of an issue this quarter, next coming months, but it's something we certainly plan to address. I'll let Albert discuss the tax leakage situation.

如果有更多的回購資金投入到其他股東，非自由股東將對市場產生積極影響。我們認為它很好的原因有很多，我相信克里斯也有同樣的感覺。正如我所說，我與獨立董事會成員進行了一些積極的討論，儘管我們在這方面肯定還沒有完成。我確實認為你指出這個問題在本季度和接下來的幾個月可能不再是一個問題，但這是我們肯定計劃解決的問題。我會讓阿爾伯特討論漏稅情況。

Yes. With respect to any sort of tax leakage it's -- we'll also stop buybacks. We're not experiencing any of that. For the year, I think it could be in the 7% to 13% range with respect to a tax rate. I think it's going to tend to be towards the lower end, given the absence of repurchases at this time.

是的。對於任何形式的稅收洩漏，我們也將停止回購。我們沒有經歷過這些。今年，我認為稅率可能在 7% 到 13% 的範圍內。鑑於目前沒有回購，我認為它會趨向於低端。

Our next question comes from Matthew Harrigan with Benchmark Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Benchmark Company 的 Matthew Harrigan。

More or less a quasi Investor Day question, but do you have any concerns about the dysfunction in Washington on tax policy, in particular that might make it difficult to implement a Section 355 transaction at some point? I mean I know that there are interpretations of the Blackletter law and nonetheless, Treasury and IRS can get politicized to say the least. And the government is certainly looking for revenue.

或多或少是一個準投資者日問題，但您是否對華盛頓稅收政策的失調有任何擔憂，特別是這可能會導致在某些時候難以實施 355 條款交易？我的意思是，我知道對黑字法有多種解釋，但至少可以說，財政部和國稅局可能會被政治化。政府當然也在尋求收入。

I'll let Albert go on this one as well.

我也會讓阿爾伯特繼續這件事。

We've not seen anything from a legislative perspective that we think would impact anything that we've -- any sort of -- been transactions we would be pursuing.

從立法角度來看，我們還沒有看到任何我們認為會影響我們所追求的任何交易的事情。

All right. Operator, thank you. I believe that's the last of our questions. Thank you again to our listening audience. We hope to speak with you next quarter, if not sooner.

好的。接線員，謝謝。我相信這是我們的最後一個問題。再次感謝我們的聽眾。我們希望在下個季度（甚至更早）與您交談。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。