The Cable TV segment provides analog, digital and high-definition television signals under franchise agreements within Shenandoah County, Virginia, and since December 1, 2008, in various locales in West Virginia and in Alleghany County, Virginia. As of March 31, 2009, it served 25,244 customers, up from 8,277 subscribers served as of March 31, 2008. Essentially all of the increase resulted from the acquisition of cable assets and customers from Rapid Communications, LLC, completed December 1, 2008. Since the acquisition, the Company has been working to upgrade many of the acquired systems, and is close to completing upgrades in the Alleghany County, Virginia, market. The Company expects to introduce expanded service offerings in this market in the second quarter of 2009, with additional expansion as markets in West Virginia are upgraded through 2010. The Company expects to spend $25 million on these upgrades.
The increases in operating revenues and expenses shown above primarily reflect the impact of the acquisition from Rapid Communications, LLC.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
The Company has four principal sources of funds available to meet the financing needs of its operations, capital projects, debt service, investments and potential dividends. These sources include cash flows from operations, existing balances of cash and cash equivalents, the liquidation of investments and borrowings. Management routinely considers the alternatives available to determine what mix of sources are best suited for the long-term benefit of the Company.
Sources and Uses of Cash. The Company generated $21.2 million of net cash from operations in the first three months of 2009, compared to $14.3 million in the first three months of 2008. Increased net income (adjusted for the non-cash impairment charge on assets held for sale, net of tax effects) and depreciation combined with a reduction in our accounts receivable balance from Sprint Nextel during the quarter (principally due to timing of certain cash receipts immediately after year end 2008) generated most of the increase.
Indebtedness. As of March 31, 2009, the Company’s indebtedness totaled $42.3 million, with an annualized overall weighted average interest rate of approximately 4.68%. The balance included $25.7 million at a variable rate of 2.91% that resets weekly, with the balance at a variety of fixed rates ranging from 6.67% to 8.05%. As of March 31, 2009, the Company was in compliance with the covenants in its credit agreements.
The Company has the ability to borrow approximately $9.8 million as of March 31, 2009, under a revolving reducing credit facility established in 2004. No balances are currently outstanding on this facility.
The Company entered into a $52 million delayed draw term loan in October, 2008, to fund capital expenditures, the Rapid Communications acquisition, and other corporate purposes. The Company borrowed $2 million under this facility during the first quarter of 2009, and has $26.3 million available on this facility as of March 31, 2009, and it may make draws against this facility through December 31, 2009. Repayments under this facility begin on March 31, 2010, in 24 equal quarterly installments based upon the outstanding balance as of December 31, 2009.
The Company has no off-balance sheet arrangements and has not entered into any transactions involving unconsolidated, limited purpose entities or commodity contracts.
Capital Commitments. Capital expenditures budgeted for 2009 total approximately $73 million, including approximately $30.3 million in our Wireless segment for additional PCS base stations and towers to expand our network coverage and capacity (principally in Pennsylvania), new EVDO sites to provide EVDO service over more of our network, and additional switch capacity to handle the additional growth. The Wireline segment has budgeted approximately $15.5 million for telephone network operations and fiber projects and to add capacity and redundancy to our fiber networks in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia, while the Cable segment expects to spend approximately $23.8 million, principally in the new markets acquired from Rapid Communications, while approximately $4 million is budgeted for other capital needs. Capital spending may shift amongst these priorities as opportunities arise, and the Company is prepared to reduce spending in areas as market conditions change.
For the 2009 three month period, the Company spent $9.1 million on capital projects, compared to $7.8 million in the same period during 2008. Spending related to Wireless projects accounted for $3.5 million in the first quarter of 2009, while Wireline projects accounted for $1.8 million, Cable TV for $2.6 million, and other projects $1.1 million. The Company expects the pace of spending to increase in coming quarters, particularly in the Wireless and Cable TV segments.
The Company believes that cash on hand, cash flow from operations and borrowings expected to be available under the Company’s existing credit facilities will provide sufficient cash to enable the Company to fund its planned capital expenditures, make scheduled principal and interest payments, meet its other cash requirements and maintain compliance with the terms of its financing agreements for at least the next 12 months. Thereafter, capital expenditures will likely continue to be required to provide increased capacity to meet the Company’s expected growth in demand for its products and services. The actual amount and timing of the Company’s future capital requirements may differ materially from the Company’s estimate depending on the demand for its products and new market developments and opportunities. The Company currently expects that it will fund its future capital expenditures primarily with cash from operations and with borrowings, although there are events outside the control of the Company that could have an adverse impact on cash flows from operations.
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These events include, but are not limited to: changes in overall economic conditions, regulatory requirements, changes in technologies, availability of labor resources and capital, changes in the Company’s relationship with Sprint Nextel, and other conditions. The Wireless segment’s operations are dependent upon Sprint Nextel’s ability to execute certain functions such as billing, customer care, and collections; the subsidiary’s ability to develop and implement successful marketing programs and new products and services, and the subsidiary’s ability to effectively and economically manage other operating activities under the Company’s agreements with Sprint Nextel. The Company’s ability to attract and maintain a sufficient customer base is also critical to its ability to maintain a positive cash flow from operations. The foregoing events individually or collectively could affect the Company’s results.
Recently Issued Accounting Standards
There were no recently issued accounting standards, not adopted by the Company as of March 31, 2009, that are expected to have a material impact on the Company’s results of operations or financial condition.
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ITEM 3. | QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK |
The Company’s market risks relate primarily to changes in interest rates on instruments held for other than trading purposes. The Company’s interest rate risk generally involves three components. The first component is outstanding debt with variable rates. As of March 31, 2009, the Company had $25.7 million of variable rate debt outstanding, bearing interest at a rate of 2.91% as determined by CoBank on a weekly basis. An increase in market interest rates of 1.00% would add approximately $257 thousand to annual interest expense; if and when fully drawn, a 1.00% increase in market interest rates would add $520 thousand to annual interest expense. The remaining approximately $16.4 million of the Company’s outstanding debt has fixed rates through maturity. Due to the relatively short time frame to maturity of this fixed rate debt, market value approximates carrying value of the fixed rate debt.
The second component of interest rate risk consists of temporary excess cash, which can be invested in various short-term investment vehicles such as overnight repurchase agreements and Treasury bills with a maturity of less than 90 days. The cash is currently invested in an institutional cash management fund that has limited interest rate risk. Management continues to evaluate the most beneficial use of these funds.
The third component of interest rate risk is marked increases in interest rates that may adversely affect the rate at which the Company may borrow funds for growth in the future. Management does not believe that this risk is currently significant because the Company’s existing sources of liquidity are adequate to provide cash for operations, payment of debt and near-term capital projects.
Management does not view market risk as having a significant impact on the Company’s results of operations, although future results could be adversely affected if interest rates were to increase significantly for an extended period and the Company were to require additional external financing. The Company’s investments in publicly traded stock and bond mutual funds under the rabbi trust, which are subject to market risks and could experience significant swings in market values, are offset by corresponding changes in the liabilities owed to participants in the Executive Supplemental Retirement Plan. General economic conditions affected by regulatory changes, competition or other external influences may pose a higher risk to the Company’s overall results.
As of March 31, 2009, the Company has $6.5 million invested in privately held companies directly or through investments with portfolio managers. Most of the companies are in an early stage of development and significant increases in interest rates could have an adverse impact on their results, ability to raise capital and viability. The Company’s market risk is limited to the funds previously invested and an additional $0.3 million committed under contracts the Company has signed with portfolio managers.
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ITEM 4. | CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES |
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Management, with the participation of our President and Chief Executive Officer, who is the principal executive officer, and the Vice President - Finance and Chief Financial Officer, who is the principal financial officer, conducted an evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures, as defined by Rule 13a-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company’s principal executive officer and its principal financial officer concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of March 31, 2009.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
During the first quarter of 2009, there were no changes in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, its internal control over financial reporting.
Other Matters Relating to Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
The Company continues to integrate the assets and operations of Shentel Cable, Inc., that were acquired on December 1, 2008. Management expects the full integration of its internal controls and processes for the material financial systems to be completed during the second quarter of 2009.
Under the Company’s agreements with Sprint Nextel, Sprint Nextel provides the Company with billing, collections, customer care, certain network operations and other back office services for the PCS operation. As a result, Sprint Nextel remits to the Company approximately 67% of the Company’s total operating revenues. Due to this relationship, the Company necessarily relies on Sprint Nextel to provide accurate, timely and sufficient data and information to properly record the Company’s revenues, and accounts receivable, which underlie a substantial portion of the Company’s periodic financial statements and other financial disclosures.
Information provided by Sprint Nextel includes reports regarding the subscriber accounts receivable in the Company’s markets. Sprint Nextel provides the Company with monthly accounts receivable, billing and cash receipts information on a market level, rather than a subscriber level. The Company reviews these various reports to identify discrepancies or errors. Under the Company’s agreements with Sprint Nextel, the Company is entitled to only a portion of the receipts, net of items such as taxes, government surcharges, certain allocable write-offs and the 16.8% of revenue retained by Sprint Nextel. Because of the Company’s reliance on Sprint Nextel for financial information, the Company must depend on Sprint Nextel to design adequate internal controls with respect to the processes established to provide this data and information to the Company and Sprint Nextel’s other Sprint PCS affiliate network partners. To address this issue, Sprint Nextel engages an independent registered public accounting firm to perform a periodic evaluation of these controls and to provide a “Report on Controls Placed in Operation and Tests of Operating Effectiveness for Affiliates” under guidance provided in Statement of Auditing Standards No. 70 (“SAS 70 reports”). The report is provided to the Company on an annual basis and covers a nine-month period. The most recent report covers the period from January 1, 2008 to September 30, 2008. The most recent report indicated there were no material issues which would adversely affect the information used to support the recording of the revenues provided by Sprint Nextel related to the Company’s relationship with them.
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PART II. | OTHER INFORMATION |
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ITEM 1A. | Risk Factors |
As previously discussed, our actual results could differ materially from our forward looking statements. There have been no material changes in the risk factors from those described in Part 1, Item 1A of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008.
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ITEM 2. | Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds |
The Company maintains a dividend reinvestment plan (the “DRIP”) for the benefit of its shareholders. When shareholders remove shares from the DRIP, the Company issues a certificate for whole shares, pays out cash for any fractional shares, and cancels the fractional shares purchased. The following table provides information about the Company’s repurchases of fractional shares during the three months ended March 31, 2009:
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| | Number of Shares Purchased | | Average Price Paid per Share | |
| | | | | |
January 1 to January 31 | | | 3 | | $ | 25.14 | |
February 1 to February 28 | | | 1 | | $ | 25.25 | |
March 1 to March 31 | | | 2 | | $ | 19.42 | |
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Total | | | 6 | | $ | 23.41 | |
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(a) The following exhibits are filed with this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q:
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31.1 | Certification of President and Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. |
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31.2 | Certification of Vice President - Finance and Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. |
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32 | Certifications pursuant to Rule 13a-14(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and 18 U.S.C. § 1350. |
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
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| SHENANDOAH TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY |
| (Registrant) |
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| /s/Adele M. Skolits | |
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| Adele M. Skolits, Vice President - Finance and Chief Financial Officer |
| Date: May 5, 2009 |
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EXHIBIT INDEX
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