NII Holdings Reports 2018 Fourth Quarter And Year End Results

RESTON, Va., March 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NII Holdings, Inc. [NASDAQ: NIHD] today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2018. For the quarter, the Company generated consolidated operating revenues of $142 million, a consolidated operating loss of $10 million and consolidated adjusted OIBDA of $2 million. The Company's consolidated adjusted OIBDA excludes the impact of non-cash asset impairments, restructuring charges and other unusual items. For the full year, the Company generated consolidated operating revenues of $621 million, a consolidated operating loss of $42 million and consolidated adjusted OIBDA of $6 million. Capital expenditures were $24 million for the quarter and $64 million for the full year. The Company also announced today in a separate press release the entry into an agreement to sell Nextel Brazil, the Company's operating subsidiary in Brazil.

For the fourth quarter of 2018, Nextel Brazil reported 3G/4G net subscriber additions of 99,300 and 3G/4G churn of 2.62%, a 6-basis point decrease compared to the third quarter of 2018 and an 85-basis point decrease compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. Additionally, for the fourth quarter of 2018, Nextel Brazil's average monthly service revenue per subscriber (ARPU) was $14, cost per gross addition (CPGA) was $56 and cash cost per user (CCPU) was $12.

"Our results this quarter and for the full year 2018 reflect the continued execution of our strategy that focuses on growing our subscriber base by catering to value-minded customers in Sao Paulo and Rio that appreciate our promise on price, network performance and customer service," stated Roberto Rittes, Chief Executive Officer of Nextel Brazil. "Our success in positioning our business to compete well in Brazil is a direct result of the hard work, sacrifice and innovative spirit that our employees have delivered, and I want to thank them for their efforts."

At year-end, Nextel Brazil's sources of funding totaled $281 million, including $175 million of unrestricted cash and short-term investments and $106 million of cash held in escrow to secure indemnification obligations in connection with the sale of the Company's operations in Mexico.

Additional details regarding the Company's results, including a more detailed explanation on local currency operating metrics, are included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. Additional operational and financial details, including a quarterly earnings presentation, are also available under the Company's Investor Relations link at www.nii.com.

In addition to the financial results prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP) provided throughout this press release and in the attached financial tables, NII Holdings has presented consolidated adjusted OIBDA, as well as Nextel Brazil's CCPU and CPGA. These measures are non-GAAP financial measures and should be considered in addition to, but not as substitutes for, the information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations from GAAP results to these non-GAAP financial measures are provided in the notes to the attached financial tables. To view these and other reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures that the Company uses, visit the investor relations link at www.nii.com.

About NII Holdings, Inc.

NII Holdings, Inc., a publicly held company based in Reston, Virginia, is a provider of mobile communication services for individual consumers who use our services to meet both professional and personal needs in Brazil. NII Holdings, operating under the Nextel brand, offers fully integrated wireless communication tools with digital cellular voice services, data services, international voice and data roaming services and other value-added services. Visit NII Holdings' website at www.nii.com.

Visit NII Holdings' news room for news and to access our market's news center: nii.com/newsroom.

Safe Harbor Statement

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  This news release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the securities laws. The statements in this news release regarding the business and economic outlook, future performance and guidance, as well as other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are estimates and projections reflecting management's judgment based on currently available information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. With respect to these forward-looking statements, management has made assumptions regarding, among other things, the Company's ability to fund the business and meet its business plans, customer growth and retention, pricing, network usage, operating costs, the timing of various events, Access Industries' minority ownership in Nextel Brazil, the economic and regulatory environment and the foreign currency exchange rates that will prevail in 2019. Future performance cannot be assured and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include the risks and uncertainties relating to: the impact of liquidity constraints, including the inability to access escrowed funds when expected, the impact of more intense competitive conditions and changes in economic conditions in Brazil, the performance of the Company's network, the Company's ability to provide services that customers want or need, the Company's ability to execute its business plan, and the additional risks and uncertainties that are described in NII Holdings' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, as well as in other reports filed from time to time by NII Holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release speaks only as of its date, and the Company disclaims any duty to update the information herein.

NON-GAAP RECONCILIATIONS
FOR THE THREE MONTHS AND YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2018 AND 2017
(UNAUDITED)

Consolidated OIBDA and Consolidated Adjusted OIBDA

Consolidated operating income before depreciation and amortization, or OIBDA, represents operating income before depreciation and amortization expense. Consolidated adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization, or adjusted OIBDA, represents consolidated operating income before depreciation expense, amortization expense, material asset impairments, severance costs associated with publicly announced restructuring plans and other material non-recurring or unusual charges. Consolidated OIBDA and consolidated adjusted OIBDA are not measurements under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, may not be similar to consolidated OIBDA and consolidated adjusted OIBDA measures of other companies and should be considered in addition to, but not as substitutes for, the information contained in our statements of operations. We believe that consolidated OIBDA and consolidated adjusted OIBDA provide useful information to investors because they are indicators of our ongoing operating performance, especially in a capital intensive industry such as ours, since they exclude items that are not directly attributable to ongoing business operations. Consolidated OIBDA and consolidated adjusted OIBDA can be reconciled to our consolidated statements of operations as follows (in millions):

Cost per Gross Add (CPGA)

Cost per gross add, or CPGA, is an industry term that is calculated by dividing our selling, marketing and handset and accessory subsidy costs, excluding costs unrelated to initial customer acquisition, by our new subscribers during the period, or gross adds.  CPGA is not a measurement under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, may not be similar to CPGA measures of other companies and should be considered in addition, but not as a substitute for, the information contained in our statements of operations.  We believe CPGA is a measure of the relative cost of customer acquisition.  CPGA can be calculated as follows (in millions, except CPGA):

Cash Cost per Handset/User

Cash cost per handset/unit, or CCPU, represents the sum of cost of service, general and administrative expenses and customer retention and other costs divided by average handsets in service during the period and divided by the number of months in the period. CCPU is not a measurement under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, may not be similar to CCPU measures of other companies and should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, the information contained in our statements of operations.  We believe CCPU is a measure of the recurring costs we incur on a monthly basis to provide service to our subscribers. The CCPU calculation excludes material asset impairments, severance costs associated with publicly announced restructuring plans and other material non-recurring or unusual charges and is calculated as follows (in thousands, except CCPU):

Impact of Foreign Currency Fluctuations

The following table shows the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates on certain financial measures for the three months and year ended December 31, 2017 compared to the same periods in 2018 by (i) adjusting the relevant measures for the three months and year ended December 31, 2017 to levels that would have resulted if the average foreign currency exchange rates for the three months and year ended December 31, 2017 were the same as the average foreign currency exchange rates that were in effect for the three months and year ended December 31, 2018; and (ii) comparing the actual and adjusted financial measures for the three months and year ended December 31, 2017 to the similar financial measures for the three months and year ended December 31, 2018 to show the percentage change in those measures before and after taking those adjustments into account. The amounts reflected in the following table for operating income before depreciation and amortization on a consolidated basis and segment earnings for Nextel Brazil, before the adjustments for changes in foreign currency exchange rates, are based on the calculations contained elsewhere in these non-GAAP reconciliations for the three months and year ended December 31, 2018 and 2017. The average foreign currency exchange rates for each of the relevant currencies during each of the three months and year ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 are included in the notes to the table below. The information reflected in the following table is not a measurement under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States and should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, the information contained in our statements of operations. We believe that these calculations provide useful information concerning our relative performance for the three months and year ended December 31, 2018 compared to the same periods in 2017 by removing the impact of the significant difference in the average foreign currency exchange rates in effect for those periods.

1.   The  "4Q 2017 Normalized" and "YTD 2017 Normalized" amounts reflect the impact of applying the average foreign currency exchange rates for the three months and year ended December 31, 2018 to the operating revenues earned in foreign currencies and to the other components of each of the actual financial measures shown above for the three months and year ended December 31, 2017, other than certain components of those measures consisting of U.S. dollar-based operating expenses, which were not adjusted. The amounts included under the columns "4Q 2017 Normalized" and "YTD 2017 Normalized" reflect the amount determined by adding the "4Q 2017 Adjustment" and "YTD 2017 Adjustment" amounts calculated as described in the preceding sentence to the "4Q 2017 Actual" and "YTD 2017 Actual" amounts and reflect the impact of the year-over-year change in the average foreign currency exchange rates on each of the financial measures for the three months and year ended December 31, 2018. The average foreign currency exchange rates for each of the relevant currencies during the three months and year ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 for purposes of these calculations were as follows:

2.   The percentage amounts in these columns reflect the better, or B, or worse, or W, growth rates for each of the financial measures comparing the amounts in the "4Q 2018 Actual" and "YTD 2018 Actual" columns with those in the "4Q 2017 Actual" and "YTD 2017 Actual" columns.

3.   The percentage amounts in these columns reflect the  the better, or B, or worse, or W, growth rates for each of the financial measures comparing the amounts in the "4Q 2018 Actual" and "YTD 2018 Actual" columns with those in the "4Q 2017 Normalized" and "YTD 2017 Normalized" columns.

Additional Information

Average Monthly Revenue Per Handset/Unit in Service (ARPU)

Average monthly revenue per subscriber unit in service, or ARPU, is an industry term that measures service revenues, which we refer to as subscriber revenues, per period from our customers divided by the weighted average number of subscriber units in commercial service during that period.  ARPU is not a measurement under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, may not be similar to ARPU measures of other companies and should be considered in addition, but not as a substitute for, the information contained in our statements of operations.  We believe that ARPU provides useful information concerning the appeal of our rate plans and service offerings and our performance in attracting and retaining high value customers.  Other revenue includes revenues for such services as roaming, handset maintenance, cancellation fees, analog and other.  ARPU can be calculated as follows (in millions, except ARPU):

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SOURCE NII Holdings, Inc.