CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL) was up 7.51% in the last trading session to close at $13.74 on a volume of 36.2million shares.
CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL) has reported its results for the fourth quarter as well as the full year 2018, and as many analysts expected, the total revenue for the telecommunication company fall to $5.78 billion for the fourth quarter of 2018 as compared to $6.01 for Q4 of 2017. However, they reported a net loss of $1.733 billion.
Dividends for Focusing on Disciplined Execution
Regarding the news report, Jeff Storey President and CEO of CenturyLink said that their focus on disciplined execution in the past year was vital for them in making significant progress in integrating level 3. Also, it helped in achieving their originally announced synergy target which means that they have achieved it with two years remaining as it was expected.
The total revenue for Q4 of 2018 was $5.78 billion compared to $6.01 billion for the fourth quarter in 2017 on the pro forma basis. Besides, diluted loss per share reported being $2.26 for quarter four of 2018 compared to that of 2017 that stood at $1.06 diluted earnings per share. The diluted earnings per share now were $0.37
Also, free cash flow after excluding integration-related expenses as well as special items it was $1.192 billion in last year’s Q4 compared to $861 million in Q4 of 2017 on the pro forma basis. As the year ended, the company had cash as well as cash equivalent of $488 million.
Shifting the Focus
According to President and CEO of CenturyLink, this year they will shift the focus from integration into transformation. Additionally, they’ll shift the capital allocation priorities as well as reduce the annual dividend to $1 which currently stands at $2.16.
Under the new allocation policy, CenturyLink plans in reducing the net leverage to 2.75x to 3.25x in some specific timeframe of about three years while it continues to fund their growth as well as transformation initiatives. Besides, they expect to continue the growth of adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) as well as expanding adjusted EBITDA margins.