Liberty Latin America Reports First Quarter 2020 Results
05 May 2020 inLiberty Latin America Reports First Quarter 2020 Results
Denver, Colorado – May 5, 2020 (NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK, OTC Link: LILAB).
Dear fellow shareholders,
We find ourselves in an unprecedented time with significant global economic uncertainty stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. For this quarter, I decided to adjust our usual format and write you this letter as I believe it is crucial to be direct and transparent about how we’re responding to this challenge and why we see ourselves emerging from it stronger than before.
Let me start by saying that our first quarter exceeded my expectations. Liberty Puerto Rico performed really well and VTR had a good quarter despite the social unrest in Chile. C&W nailed it with record Q1 fixed adds and the best Q1 OCF performance since acquisition. This strong performance is a testament to the hard work and commitment of our employees and demonstrates that the changes we have made to our operating model over the last 24 months are working.
Now, we know the next three quarters won’t look like the first or what we had planned for the year. As a result, we are withdrawing our guidance that we shared with you just a few months ago. The reasons are clear. The Coronavirus is unpredictable, government responses and policies are uncertain and nobody can be sure how long this disruption will last.
What I do know is that my management team and I are ready for this. We have shown that we can overcome challenges in our markets and become a stronger company. I can also tell you that we know how to run our business to generate cash and are focused on generating positive free cash flow in 2020. Based on our current view of the virus’ impact on our business, we initiated a reduction of $150 million in fixed operating costs and capex. We also expect that our variable costs, such as COGS and activity related costs and capex, will go down with reductions in revenue. We have more than enough liquidity on our balance sheet to weather this difficult period. Cash in the bank and positive free cash flow from our operations gives us stability and flexibility.
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