Altice USA Reports Second Quarter 2023 Results

Delivers Best Fiber Customer Growth Quarter, Ending Q2 at 250K Fiber Customers

Optimum Now the Nation’s Largest 8 Gig Internet Provider

Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) today reports results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023.

Dennis Mathew, Altice USA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: "I am pleased with the progress we are making as we act with discipline and focus to execute on our mission for Optimum to be the connectivity provider of choice across all the communities we serve. In the second quarter we achieved sustainable operational and financial improvements across the business, with significant achievements in our customer experience and field operations translating into higher customer satisfaction metrics and reduced call volume and service visits. Our focus on creating better experiences for our customers while driving down costs resulted in stronger broadband net add performance in the quarter compared to the prior year. Our best-in-class products and networks continued with the launch of our 8 Gig symmetrical Fiber Internet service, cementing Optimum as the nation’s largest 8 Gig internet provider. Our strategy to provide the best products, the best networks, and the best customer and employee experiences, through operational execution and financial discipline, is leading to better trends across the business, and I am optimistic that the achievements in the quarter are leading indicators of a return to sustainable broadband and cash flow growth."

Key Financial Highlights

• Total Revenue declined -5.6% YoY in Q2 2023 to $2.32 billion, including Residential revenue decline of -5.7% YoY, Business Services revenue decline of -1.9% YoY and News & Advertising revenue decline of -14.8% YoY.
• Net income attributable to stockholders was $78.3 million in Q2 2023 ($0.17/share on a diluted basis) compared to $106.2 million in Q2 2022 ($0.23/share on a diluted basis).
• Net cash flows from operating activities were $438.8 million in Q2 2023, compared to $676.3 million in Q2 2022.
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ declined -8.5% YoY in Q2 2023 to $921.7 million, with a margin of 39.7%.
• Cash capital expenditures of $473.4 million in Q2 2023 represented 20.4% of revenue (11.4% of revenue excluding fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and new builds) and were down -2.4% YoY.
• Operating Free Cash Flow⁽¹⁾ decreased -14.1% YoY to $448.3 million in Q2 2023.
• Free Cash Flow (Deficit)⁽¹⁾ was ($34.6) million in Q2 2023.

Key Operational Highlights

• Total Broadband Primary Service Units (PSUs): Quarterly broadband net losses were -37k in Q2 2023, compared to -39k broadband net losses in Q2 2022.
• Total Fiber Broadband PSUs: Quarterly Fiber (FTTH) broadband net additions were +40k in Q2 2023, our best quarter for fiber net adds. Fiber broadband net adds were driven by both higher fiber gross additions and increased migrations of existing customers. Total fiber broadband customers reached 250k as of the end of Q2 2023.
• Optimum Mobile has approximately 264k mobile lines as of the end of Q2 2023, adding +16k mobile net additions in Q2 2023 (+35k net additions excluding customers receiving free service⁽⁴⁾), reaching 5.8% penetration of the Company's total broadband customer base.
• Residential revenue⁽²⁾ declined -5.7% YoY in Q2 2023 to $1.84 billion.
• Residential revenue per customer relationship⁽⁵⁾ declined -2.8% YoY in Q2 2023 to $137.44, mostly due to the loss of higher ARPU video customers.
• Business Services revenue of $364.7 million was down -1.9% YoY in Q2 2023. SMB / Other revenue was down -2.0% YoY in Q2 2023. Lightpath revenue was down -1.4% YoY in Q2 2023. Lightpath revenue decline is driven by Sprint early termination revenue⁽²⁾ in the prior period of approximately $2.3 million; excluding this early termination revenue, Lightpath revenue would have grown +1.1% in Q2 2023.
• News and Advertising revenue was down -14.8% YoY to $113.5 million in Q2 2023, or down -8.4% excluding political revenue.

Fiber Rollout, Multi-Gig Fiber Internet and Network Expansion Update

• Fiber (FTTH) rollout update: As of Q2 2023, the Company has 2.66 million FTTH passings, adding +287k new FTTH passings in the quarter.
• Launch of Optimum 8 Gbps (8 Gig) Symmetrical Fiber. Optimum 8 Gig Fiber is available to 1.7 million passings at the end of Q2 2023. Last year the Company also introduced both Optimum 5 Gbps (5 Gig) and 2 Gbps (2 Gig) Fiber Internet, with symmetrical data speeds up to 5 Gig and 2 Gig respectively in certain portions of its footprint. At the end of Q2 2023, 72% of the Company’s fiber passings in the Optimum East footprint had multi-Gig speeds available to them (1 Gig symmetric speeds are available to 100% of the Company's entire fiber footprint).
• 1 Gbps (1 Gig) broadband or higher speed sell-in to all new customers, where 1 Gig or higher services are available, was 39% in Q2 2023. Approximately 21% of the Residential broadband customer base currently take 1 Gig or higher speeds, representing a significant growth opportunity for the Company.
• Broadband speeds taken on average have nearly doubled in the past three years to 421 Mbps in Q2 2023.
• Broadband-only customer usage averaged 619 GB per month in Q2 2023, which is 23% higher than the average usage of the entire customer base (501 GB per month).
• New build activity update: The Company has been accelerating the pace of its network edge-outs, adding +66k passings in Q2 2023 (+115k passings LTM). The Company continues to see strong momentum in growing customer penetration, typically reaching approximately 40% within a year of rollout in new-build areas.

Balance Sheet Review as of June 30, 2023

• Net debt for CSC Holdings, LLC Restricted Group was $23,150 million at the end of Q2 2023⁽¹¹⁾, representing net leverage of 6.8x Adjusted EBITDA on a last twelve month (LTM) basis. The weighted average cost of debt for CSC Holdings, LLC Restricted Group was 6.1% as of the end of Q2 2023 and the weighted average life was 5.2 years. The Company expects to return to a leverage target of 4.5x to 5.0x net debt / Adjusted EBITDA on a Last 2 Quarters Annualized (L2QA) basis for its CSC Holdings, LLC debt silo over time.
• Net debt for Cablevision Lightpath LLC was $1,410 million at the end of Q2 2023⁽¹¹⁾, representing net leverage of 5.9x LTM. The weighted average cost of debt for Cablevision Lightpath LLC was 5.4% as of the end of Q2 2023 and the weighted average life was 4.6 years.
• Consolidated net debt for Altice USA was $24,543 million⁽¹¹⁾, representing consolidated net leverage of 6.7x LTM.

Successful Pricing of New Senior Guaranteed Notes

In April 2023, CSC Holdings issued $1.0 billion in aggregate principal amount of senior guaranteed notes that bear interest at a rate of 11.250% and mature on May 15, 2028. The Company used the proceeds to repay outstanding borrowings drawn under the Revolving Credit Facility.

Shares Outstanding

As of June 30, 2023, the Company had 454,729,330 combined Class A and Class B shares outstanding.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures:

We define Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, as net income (loss) excluding income taxes, non-operating income or expenses, gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt and write-off of deferred financing costs, gain (loss) on interest rate swap contracts, gain (loss) on derivative contracts, gain (loss) on investments and sale of affiliate interests, interest expense, net, depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation, restructuring expense and other operating items (such as significant legal settlements, contractual payments for terminated employees, and impairments).

Adjusted EBITDA eliminates the significant non-cash depreciation and amortization expense that results from the capital-intensive nature of our business and from intangible assets recognized from acquisitions, as well as certain non-cash and other operating items that affect the period-to-period comparability of our operating performance. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA is unaffected by our capital and tax structures and by our investment activities.

We believe Adjusted EBITDA is an appropriate measure for evaluating the operating performance of the Company. Adjusted EBITDA and similar measures with similar titles are common performance measures used by investors, analysts and peers to compare performance in our industry. Internally, we use revenue and Adjusted EBITDA measures as important indicators of our business performance and evaluate management’s effectiveness with specific reference to these indicators. We believe Adjusted EBITDA provides management and investors a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our core business and operating results by excluding items that are not comparable across reporting periods or that do not otherwise relate to the Company’s ongoing operating results. Adjusted EBITDA should be viewed as a supplement to and not a substitute for operating income (loss), net income (loss), and other measures of performance presented in accordance with GAAP. Since Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of performance calculated in accordance with GAAP, this measure may not be comparable to similar measures with similar titles used by other companies.

We also use Operating Free Cash Flow (defined as Adjusted EBITDA less cash capital expenditures), and Free Cash Flow (defined as net cash flows from operating activities less cash capital expenditures) as indicators of the Company’s financial performance. We believe these measures are two of several benchmarks used by investors, analysts and peers for comparison of performance in the Company’s industry, although they may not be directly comparable to similar measures reported by other companies.

Consolidated Net Debt as of June 30, 2023⁽¹¹⁾

Net Leverage Schedules as of June 30, 2023 (in $m)

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