Filed
by
Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc.
pursuant
to Rule 425 under the Securities Act of 1933,
as
amended, and
deemed filed pursuant to Rule 14a-12
under
the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
Subject
Company: North Pittsburgh Systems, Inc.
Commission
File No.: 0-13716
Consolidated
Communications Second Quarter 2007 Conference Call
Moderator:
Steve Jones
August
9, 2007
11:00
a.m. EST
OPERATOR:
Welcome
to the Consolidated Communications second quarter earnings call. At this time,
all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following management’s prepared
remarks, we’ll hold a Q&A session. To ask a question, please press star,
followed by one on your touch-tone phone. If anyone has difficulties hearing
the
conference, please press star zero for operator assistance.
As
a
reminder, this conference is being recorded August 9th, 2007.
I
would
not like to turn the conference over to Steve Jones of Consolidated
Communications. Please go ahead, sir.
STEVE
JONES, VICE PRESIDENT, VP INVESTOR RELATIONS, CONSOLIDATED COMMUNICATIONS:
Thank
you, Kara and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for
Consolidated Communications’ second quarter 2007 earnings conference call.
I’m
Steve
Jones, Vice President, Investor Relations, and with us on the call today are
Bob
Currey, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Steve Childers, Chief
Financial Officer.
After
the
prepared remarks, we will conduct a question-and-answer session.
I
will
now review the Safe Harbor and proxy solicitation provisions of this call,
and
then turn it over to Bob. First, the Safe Harbor.
This
call
may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal
securities laws. Such forward-looking statements reflect, among other things,
management’s current expectations, plans and strategies, and anticipated
financial results, all of which are subject to known and unknown risks,
uncertainties, and factors that may cause the actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
Please see our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for
more information about forward-looking statements and related risk
factors.
In
addition, during this call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures.
Our earnings release for this quarter’s results, which has been posted to the
investor relations section of our Web site, contains reconciliations of these
measures to the nearest GAAP equivalent.
And
now
the proxy solicitation. This material is not a substitute for the prospectus
or
proxy statement Consolidated Communications Holdings and North Pittsburgh
Systems will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors are
urged to read the prospectus and proxy statement, which will contain important
information, including detailed risk factors, when it becomes
available.
The
prospectus and proxy statement and other documents, which will be filed by
Consolidated Communications and North Pittsburgh Systems with the Securities
and
Exchange Commission, will be available free of charge at the SEC’s Web site or
by directing a request to either company. The companies’ addresses were provided
in this morning’s release. The final prospectus and proxy statement will be
mailed to shareholders of North Pittsburgh Systems.
This
communication does not or shall not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy securities, nor shall there be any sale of
securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer of solicitation or sale
would
be unlawful prior to registration or qualification of these securities under
the
securities laws of such jurisdiction.
Consolidated
Communications Holdings and North Pittsburgh Systems and certain of their
respective directors, officers, and other members of management and employees
are participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with this proposed
transaction.
Information
about the directors and executive officers of Consolidated Communications
Holdings is set forth in the proxy statement filed in connection with their
2007
annual meeting. Information about the directors and executive officers of North
Pittsburgh Systems is set forth in the company’s annual report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31st, 2006, as amended.
Investors
may obtain additional information regarding interest of such participants in
the
proposed transactions by reading the prospectus and proxy statement for such
transactions when it becomes available.
I
will
now turn the call over to Bob, who will provide a brief overview of our
financial and operating results, an update on the North Pittsburgh transaction,
and an update on a couple of product initiatives we have underway. After which
Steve Childers will provide a more detailed review of our second quarter
financials - Bob.
BOB
CURREY, PRESIDENT & CEO, CONSOLIDATED COMMUNICATIONS:
Thank
you, Steve, and thank you all for joining us today.
I
am
pleased to report we had another strong quarter. We continued to successfully
execute on our strategy of providing high-quality broadband and voice services
in Texas and Illinois, thus generating strong, sustainable cash flows to support
our dividend. We achieved this by growing revenue per customer, improving
operating efficiency, and maintaining a disciplined capital expenditure
philosophy.
Before
I
discuss the results for the quarter, though, let me take a minute and update
you
on the North Pittsburgh transaction.
As
I
mentioned on the call we had a little over a month ago, we’re very excited with
the North Pitt transaction. It is expected to be cash flow accretive in the
first full year of operation. It adds attractive markets to our portfolio.
And
has a strong network that can be leveraged to increase broadband penetration
and
roll-out IPTV.
In
terms
of an update, the approval processes and integration planning have begun. We
held meetings with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission commissioners,
and
their staff the week after the deal was announced and completed the requisite
state filings several weeks ago. We completed all FCC filings on July 20th,
and
on August 3rd, we received notice that the FTC granted early termination of
Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period.
As
mentioned on the call when we announced the transaction, we don’t envision
significant issues with the regulatory approval process.
The
integration planning has also begun. My direct reports and I had a series of
very positive meetings with the North Pitt employees two weeks ago. We’ve
identified the officers from both companies who will have overall responsibility
for the integration effort. The subject matter leads from Consolidated either
have begun or will begin discussions shortly with their counterparts in
Pittsburgh to refine our integration plans.
We
are
anxious to get going, and will be well prepared to hit the ground running when
the transaction closes.
If
you’re
not aware, North Pitt also released its earnings this morning. We were pleased
to see a 50 percent reduction in their access line losses in the second quarter
when compared to the first quarter. Overall, both their financial results and
their operating trends were in line with our expectations. Please refer to
their
press release for specifics on their quarter.
And
lastly, regarding the financing for the North Pittsburgh transaction, we
recognize that the credit markets have been under pressure recently. We would
like to remind you that our financing is fully committed, both in terms of
total
funding amount and interest rate.
Additionally,
we realize that our stock has traded off, and while we don’t normally comment on
our stock price performance, it is important to note that nothing has
fundamentally changed in our business. As we will explain on the balance of
the
call, we continue to deliver solid financial results. We remain very confident
with our broadband initiatives, and look forward to closing and integrating
the
North Pitt property.
So,
with
that update on North Pitt, let me now talk about Consolidated. We’re very
pleased with the financial results this quarter. Second quarter revenue and
adjusted EBITDA were $80.9 million and $36.1 million, respectively. Our adjusted
EBITDA margin improved by 110 basis points in the quarter when compared to
the
same quarter in 2006. The dividend payout ratio was a comfortable 75.6 percent
in the quarter, and is 71.9 on a year-to-date basis.
Operating
metrics were solid. As you know, second quarter historically is the slowest
quarter of the year for our industry. Regardless, we grew total connections
in
the quarter.
Access
lines in the quarter were impacted by the reduction of approximately 344 lines
associated with an Internet service provider reconfiguring its network.
Unfortunately, these reconfigurations happen from time to time. This provider
has only a small number of PRIs remaining, so if we see any future activity,
it
will have minimal impact.
We
added
almost 2,300 new DSL subscribers during the quarter, bringing the total
subscriber base to over 58,000. Our penetration of primary residential lines
grew to 35.4 percent. These results were consistent with comparable quarters
from prior years.
For
the
quarter, we also added just over 1,200 IPTV customers across both states,
bringing the total subscriber base to over 9,500.
I’m
particularly pleased to report that HD launched in Texas and that we are ready
to roll it out in Illinois later in the month of August. The picture quality
is
fabulous, and the early customer reaction in Texas has been very
positive.
Regarding
DVR, we are on track for our projected fourth quarter product launch in both
of
our states. We are excited about the HD rollout and the launch of the DVR
product. These enhancements will further strength our IPTV product suite and
provides us with a very compelling value proposition.
DSL
and
IPTV are sticky, and have been the drivers of the growth in connections and
in
the growth in revenue per customer. We continue to experience that over 90
percent of our IPTV customers take the full Triple Play offering, making us
the
leading Triple Play provider in our markets.
As
you
are aware, we have been focused on strengthening our top line. Beyond the HD
and
DVR launches I just talked about, we continue to introduce new products and
enhance our existing lineup. Let me update you with a couple of initiatives
that
do just that.
First,
our voice over IP product. We recognized some time ago that a portion of our
business customers wanted a phone system that had a robust feature set and
functionality without the capital outlay required of a traditional key or PBX
system. In 2005, we launched an attractively priced, hosted VoIP product
targeted at the small to medium-sized business customers in Texas. The response
has been positive, and it has helped us retain business customers and,
importantly, to lock them in to multiyear commitments.
Currently
this product is only offered in Texas, but will be rolled out in new markets
as
demand warrants.
At
the
end of the second quarter, we had approximately 1,800 VoIP seats that are not
included in our total connection count.
The
second update is a product enhancement. Based on the strength of our network
and
customer feedback, last week we began offering a 10 meg DSL product in select
markets. This product offering is attractive to that subset of customers that
require more bandwidth and demonstrates our commitment to keeping pace with
a
growing demand for Internet speed.
Along
with growing revenue per customer, we also continue to focus on our cost
structure. The cost reduction initiatives we’ve put in place have been key
drivers of the 110 basis point improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin. We are
pleased with this improvement, and we will continue to focus on operating
efficiency in subsequent quarters.
On
the
competitive front, although we continue to expect additional entrants before
the
end of the year, no cable companies have launched a voice product in our markets
during the past quarter.
And
lastly, in terms of billing integration, we will complete phase three at the
end
of this month. And, as with phases one and two, we will come in on time and
on
budget. I’m extremely pleased with the successful outcome and the in-house
expertise we have developed. We will certainly be leveraging this expertise
when
we integrate the North Pittsburgh Systems.
I’ll
now
turn the call over to Steve, our CFO, for the financial review.
STEVE
CHILDERS, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, CONSOLIDATED COMMUNICATIONS:
Thanks
Bob, and good morning to everyone. As Bob mentioned, we are very pleased with
both our second quarter and year-to-date results.
This
morning, I will review our quarterly financial performance and then reiterate
2007 guidance.
Revenue
for the quarter was $80.9 million, which reflects a $1.6 million increase
compared to $79.3 million in the second quarter of 2006. The
quarter-over-quarter increase was primarily driven by a $1.7 million increase
in
data and Internet services revenue, and also a $600,000 increase in network
access revenue. These increases were partially offset by a decline of $700,000
in subsidy revenue. The data and Internet revenue increase was driven by growth
in both DSL and IPTV subscribers.
The
network access increase was primarily driven by an increase in switched access
rates associated with our July 2006 tariff filing. Also reflected was
approximately $260,000 in recoveries from the Texas infrastructure fund. As
a
result of a change in how that plan is administered, we were able to recoup
some
2005 cost over the last nine months. We are essentially done with that recovery,
and expect the incremental draw to stop beginning early in the third
quarter.
The
client and subsidy revenue was primarily driven by the impact our lower expense
levels have on our subsidy draws.
Total
operating expenses for the second quarter of 2007 were $64.7 million, which
reflects a decrease of $800,000 compared to the same quarter last year. This
was
driven by both lower salary and benefit costs as well as lower severance
expense.
Net
interest expense increased $1.3 million to $11.5 million for the quarter
compared to the second quarter of 2006. The increase is primarily due to
additional borrowings associated with share repurchase completed in the third
quarter of 2006.
Income
tax expense was an expense of $1.1 million for the quarter compared to a benefit
of $3.1 million for the same period last year. The second quarter of 2006
reflected a non-cash tax benefit associated with the enactment of tax
legislation in Texas. This legislation was amended in the 2007 session, which
resulted in a reduction of our net deferred tax liabilities and a $1.7 million
non-cash tax benefit, which we ran through our second quarter tax
provision.
Accordingly,
net income for the second quarter of 2007 was $5.5 million compared to $8.2
million for the same period last year.
Net
income per common share for the second quarter of 2007 was $0.21 per share
compared to $0.28 for the same period last year. However, we do believe it
is
appropriate to look at our second quarter income per share on an adjusted basis.
As detailed on the adjusted net income per share schedule in the earnings
release, our adjusted number was $0.19 compared to $0.17 in 2006.
Adjusted
EBITDA increased $1.6 million to $36.1 million for the quarter compared to
$34.5
million for the same period last year. Results were strong, and we are pleased
with the margin increase we achieved in the quarter. Driving this was strong
revenue performance, the impact of our cost reduction initiatives, and the
increased cash distributions from our cell partnerships.
Capital
expenditures were on plan at $8.5 million in the second quarter of 2007. We
ended the quarter with $26.7 million in cash and marketable securities on the
balance sheet, and our $30 million revolving credit facility remains fully
available to us.
For
the
second quarter of 2007, our total net leverage ratio, as calculated in our
earnings release, was four times to one. All of our coverage ratios were well
within compliance levels of our credit facility.
Cash
available to pay dividends was $13.3 million in the second quarter of 2007,
yielding a 75.6 percent dividend payout ratio.
Now
I’d
like to reiterate our 2007 guidance, which remains unchanged from the guidance
we provided in our fourth quarter 2006 earnings call.
Capital
expenditures are expected to be in the range of $32 million to $34 million.
Cash
interest expense is expected to be in the range of $43.5 million to $45 million,
and cash income taxes are expected to be in the range of $12 million to $14
million.
With
respect to our dividend, our board of directors has declared the next quarterly
dividend of approximately $0.39 cents per common share payable on November
1st,
2007 to shareholders of record on October 15th, 2007.
And
with
that, I’ll now turn the call back over to Bob.
CURREY:
Thank
you, Steve.
So,
in
summary, we had a good quarter. We’re very pleased with our performance. We
continue to execute on our strategy, and our results demonstrate that that
strategy is paying off. We are excited with both how the current business is
performing and the initiatives that we have underway.
We
continue to be focused on delighting our customers with great service and
enhancing our lineup of products and services with such things as HD, DVR,
10-meg DSL tier, and a very attractive VoIP offering. We are looking forward
to
closing the North Pitt transaction and welcoming those employees to the
Consolidated team.
So,
with
that, Kara we’d like to open it up for questions.
OPERATOR:
Ladies
and gentlemen, if you wish to register for a question for today’s
question-and-answer session, you’ll need to press star, then the number one on
your telephone. You will hear a prompt to acknowledge your request. If your
question has been answered and you wish to withdraw your polling request, please
do so by pressing the star, then the number two. If you are using a
speakerphone, please pick up your handset before entering your request.
One
moment, please, for the first question.
OPERATOR:
Our
first question is from Patrick Rien with Lehman Brothers.
PATRICK
RIEN, LEHMAN BROTHERS:
Good
morning, guys. Thanks for taking the question.
Just
wanted to get into IPTV a little bit. You have the DVR launch coming up in
the
fourth quarter. Just wondering if you - how much you slow down kind of marketing
ahead of that, and what that - you know, how that helped out margins, and if
you’d expect, once you get marketing going in the fourth quarter with that
launch, does that - how does that impact margins on the back end of the
year?
CURREY:
Yes,
good morning, Patrick. A multi-part question here. Let me try that.
Starting
with the end and working forward, You’re correct it is EBITDA dilutive when we
launch the product. So, we think there will be an uptick in demand when we
launch these new services, and yes, they are dilutive as you launch the new
product.
As
we
have explained in the past, we think it’s an18- to 20-month period before it
becomes accretive on an EBITDA basis.
I
wouldn’t say that we slowed down the marketing, but we clearly recognized that
we had - we would have to go back out and make a customer visit and change
out
the gateways on homes that then upgraded to HD and DVR. So, the real push for
us, though, was having HD available this quarter for that segment of customers
that are really the sports nuts. You need HD for football in the fall, and
we
are - we’re perfectly situated to have HD now available.
I
would
also add that, in the Illinois market, which is a Big 10 state, that we have
the
Big 10 network, the only one in our serving territory with the Big 10 network,
also offered under HD.
So,
we’re
excited about it. It will be slightly dilutive in the short term, but looking
forward to the launch of these two new products.
RIEN:
Great.
And can I have one quick follow-up. On that HD, any indication what percent
of
net adds are taking that or, you know, the current base is upgrading to that
product?
CURREY:
Yes, and
again, I would caution you that this is really early data.. We’ve only had it up
about a month in Texas. But 50 percent of the new customers in Texas are taking
the HD tier.
Which
is
the premium tier that we charge for, so we’re excited that it’s at that
level.
RIEN:
OK.
Thank
you.
CURREY:
You’re
welcome.
OPERATOR:
Our next
question is from Jonathan Chaplin with JP Morgan. Go ahead with your
question.
JONATHAN
CHAPLIN, JP MORGAN:
Hey,
guys, thanks for taking the question.
Just
a
quick comment. Bob, I know you’re worried about the volatility in the stock
price. I couldn’t help but notice there are a couple of large quant funds in
your top 10 holders list. Given the volatility in the markets generally,
particularly amongst small caps recently, and, by how some of those funds have
been hit recently, a lot of the move in your stock price is probably not
fundamentally driven.
But
in
terms of questions, firstly, you know, going back to NPSI, based on our
estimates after the assets are integrated and the synergies are captured, it
looks like your payout ratio comes down substantially into the 60s. Given that
you’ve been comfortable with the payout ratio around 75 percent historically it
looks like you’d have room to increase the dividend fairly substantially, and
I’m wondering if you could give us some thoughts around that.
And
then
if you look at NPSI’s results this quarter, is there anything that would make
you feel like the synergies that you have laid out there are not achievable
or
that you’re nervous about some of those categories of synergies?
And
then
finally, on the 10-megabit product that you’ve launched, how much of your
footprint in Texas can get that, and are you offering 10 megabits in addition
to
IPTV to those homes, or is it an either/or. And if so how much total bandwidth
are you getting to those homes? Thank you.
CURREY:
Thank
you, Jonathan.
First
of
all, thanks for that explanation on the stock volatility. It certainly has
moved
around and as I stated in my opening comments, it has nothing to do with
fundamentals of our business, and we think that we just have to keep executing
our strategy, and the stock price will eventually take care of
itself.
CHAPLIN:
I think
that’s exactly right.
CURREY:
Regarding NPSI, we haven’t had a chance to get into the details. We’ve done a
quick read, we’ve looked at it, and all of the results, their projections, are
in line with what we had anticipated. And we’re particularly gratified to see
that the access line losses were about half of what they were the previous
quarter.
So,
there
isn’t anything there that would cause us, at this point, to change any of our
assumptions on synergies. You commented on a payout ratio that you’ve
calculated. It definitely improves our payout ratio, and that’s exactly why we
did the deal. It’s accretive in the first year, and we think it definitely helps
our payout ratio.
Regarding
a dividend increase and what we might do there, that’s way too early yet. You
know, there’s a lot of detailed planning yet to be done over the next couple of
months, and then we need to go execute the strategy. But clearly that would
be a
nice position to be in in the future, and that’s why we’re excited about the
deal.
CHAPLIN:
Great.
Thanks, Bob.
CURREY:
I missed
the one on - oh, you asked about HD …
CHAPLIN:
Oh, no,
the 10 …
CURREY:
I’m
sorry, about the 10 meg.
CHAPLIN:
Yes.
CURREY:
And,
it’s roughly about 60 percent of our current footprint can get the 10 meg, and
that goes to 85 percent over time. We’re focused on our most competitive
markets.
There
aren’t a lot of users demanding 10 meg today, but there is a small percentage
that need it.
In
addition, it’s also to negate any arguments that people have about bandwidth
requirements, and our network can demonstrate that we’re able to get the 20 meg
out to take care of a digital stream, two standard definition streams, and
a
broadband and voice channels. So, we’re very happy with the bandwidth that we’re
getting over copper.
CHAPLIN:
Great.
Thanks Bob.
CURREY:
You’re
welcome.
OPERATOR:
Our next
question is from Craig Larsen of Credit Suisse. Please go ahead with your
question.
CHRIS
LARSEN, CREDIT SUISSE:
Hi.
Thanks and good morning. I know that you indicated in the press release that
90
percent of your dividend will wind up being qualified and that 10 percent
wouldn’t. Does that wind up changing with the North Pittsburgh transaction,
where you could see the whole dividend going to 100 percent qualified based
on
the retained earnings that they have?
CHILDERS:
Hey,
Chris, this is Steve Childers. Thanks for the question. And it’s way too early
to comment on that. I mean, it’s based on our earnings and profit study. We
haven’t gotten their tax records yet, so we really won’t know the answer for
that until probably late 2008. So, I mean, it’s too early to guess on that
one.
LARSEN:
OK. And
then, would that have - to go back to the other question about dividends, is
that something that you think would impact your decisions - you know, the
ability to make sure that as much of the dividend as possible is qualified,
would that impact whether you increased or decreased or did anything to your
dividend policy?
CHILDERS:
I don’t
think so. I think it’s too early to assess that, and the 10 percent impact today
I think is not a very big deal to us or to …
LARSEN:
Certainly, yes.
CHILDERS:…
people
who own the stock, but I think it would play a little - it would play a minor
role in it, but certainly wouldn’t be a deciding factor of maintaining the
current dividend level or looking to possibly increase it, if it makes sense
to.
LARSEN:
Got you.
All right, thank you.
OPERATOR:
Our
next
question is from Mike Levine of Oppenheimer. Please go ahead with your
question.
MIKE
LEVINE, OPPENHEIMER:
Yes. Hi,
guys. I’m sorry. I jumped on late and I think you were in the middle of
explaining some sort of temporary operating or fundamental problem during the
quarter that’s unlikely to recur again, or in the same magnitude?
CURREY:
No,
Mike, I don’t - maybe you were on another call. We weren’t talking about any
temporary operating problem that I’m aware of, but let Steve …
CHILDERS:
The
only thing we mentioned that was out of period was the Internet service
…
CURREY:
Oh.
CHILDERS:…
344
lines.
CURREY:
Yes,
I’m
sorry. We had an Internet service provider regroom their network. It was 345
access line equivalents. They are worth 50 percent or less than a normal access
line, so it was just highlighting, Mike, that we had that in the quarter. You
don’t usually see those. Most of those are behind us, but we did want to call
out that there was one that did it this quarter. I apologize.
LEVINE:
No, no,
that’s fine. I jumped on late. I’m sorry. OK, thanks.
CURREY:
You’re
welcome.
OPERATOR:
Once
again, ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, to register for a question, please
press star, then the number one on your telephone.
Our
next
question is from Michael Rollins of Citigroup. Please go ahead with your
question.
MICHAEL
ROLLINS, CITIGROUP:
Hi. Good
morning. Just a couple questions.
The
first
question is, as you look at the prospective benefits from doing video and
broadband bundling, when do you think that you’ll get to a point where the line
loss in the quarter is less versus the year-ago period, or stable, so if you
look at the first six months of ’07, the line loss was worse on a year-over-year
basis.
And
you
know, you can even normalize for, you know, some of those one-time issues that
you described.
And
then
the second question I had was, if you could help us a little bit on the OIBITDA
side. You talked about some puts and takes on the OIBITDA side in terms of
access revenue benefits and so forth. As you look at the second quarter
performance, is that a trough and do things - like, a seasonal trough, and
things get better, or does that remain flat as you keep investing to grow DSL
and IPTV over the next six months?
Thanks.
CURREY:
Thank
you for the question, Michael. Let me take the first part.
You
know,
we haven’t had any real spikes in access line loss. It’s been pretty consistent
for the last three years. And the only spike that we expect to see would be
as
the cable companies’ launch. You see a quarterly spike, and then it comes back
down more to historical levels.
What
we
have seen, though, and there are a lot of studies, not just within our company,
but clearly the propensity to churn, or to even consider another provider,
is
dramatically reduced with the number of services that a subscriber takes, and
we’re seeing that.
We’ve
read that in literature, and now that we have 9,500 taking the Triple Play,
there definitely is less propensity to even entertain an offer as you’d get the
Triple Play or the Double Play.
I
would
comment that we’ve also seen sort of a maturation, a fairly significant drop in
the ports from wire line to wireless. It looks like that has pretty well played
itself out, so we don’t see that there.
So,
back
to your fundamental - the fundamental part of that - first part of that
question, the VoIP and the broadband clearly are more than offsetting on a
total
connection growth for us. It’s offsetting it. And I think once we work our way
through the cable launches of their VoIP product, we should start to see that
turn the other way.
Steve
will take the second part of that question there.
CHILDERS:
Yes.
Mike, I may need you to repeat it, but I’ll take a shot at it.
The
OIBITDA, or EBITDA, improvement, basically the only thing that we called out
that was unusual in the second quarter was kind of the $260,000 TIF recovery
fund winding down, and we’ll see minimal impact of that in the third quarter,
probably none in the fourth quarter.
Other
than that, it’s basically focusing on the strategy that we’ve outlined on the
call and that Bob just talked about, and we’ll continue to put video broadband
up. We hope video - or video will turn cash flow accretive in Illinois in 2007.
You’re
basically two years from launch. We will obviously continue to try to minimize
access line erosion. But we think we can continue to hold EBITDA margins flat
to
modestly improving by focusing on our cost structure and the other alternative
products that we’re rolling out.
And
the
only caution I would put to that is that third quarter is when we true up all
of
our annual studies from a regulatory perspective, so, absent a true-up going
one
way or the other from that perspective, we would expect to see pretty consistent
quarter over quarter EBITDA performance.
ROLLINS:
And I
guess in the quarter, if I remember this correctly, you saw more partnership
income and a little less from the consolidated business. Does that then reverse
out where maybe next quarter you see a little bit more from consolidated and
a
little bit less from cell partnerships?
CHILDERS:
We think
they will continue to be relatively consistent for the rest of the year. So,
then, hopefully we will continue to improve cost structure, execute on the
strategy and improve our margin points as well.
ROLLINS:
Thanks
for taking my questions.
CHILDERS:
Sure.
OPERATOR:
Ladies
and gentlemen, once again, as a reminder, to register for a question, please
press star, then the number one on your telephone.
OPERATOR:
Please
proceed with your presentation, Mr. Currey.
CURREY:
OK.
Well, thank you, Kara , and thank you all again for joining us today and for
your continued interest and support of Consolidated. We remain, excited about
our current position and our opportunities, and we look forward to updating
you
on our progress. Thanks, and have a great day.
OPERATOR:
Ladies
and gentlemen, that concludes your conference for today. We thank you for your
participation, and ask that you please disconnect your line.
END