Cincinnati Bell Net Tumbles

Cincinnati Bell(CBB Quote), a provider of data and voice communications services, said its fourth-quarter earnings fell 39.7%, hit by restructuring and asset impairment charges.

The company earned $10 million, or 4 cents a share after preferred stock dividends, in the quarter, compared with $18.3 million, or 7 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding the impact of a restructuring charge and a non-cash impairment charge, earnings were $20 million, or 7 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting the company to earn 5 cents a share.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 2% from a year ago to $305.3 million. Analysts were expecting revenue of $292.8 million.

In fiscal 2006, the company expects to earn $460 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, on flat revenue of $1.2 billion. Analysts were forecasting revenue of $1.18 billion.

While revenue from local communication services was down marginally at $188.5 million, revenue from hardware and managed services was up 41% at $47.5 million, led by a rise in equipment sales and managed services revenue coming from expanded data center operations.

"The past 12 months have been a period of dramatic transformation for Cincinnati Bell," the company said. "We succeeded in strengthening our balance sheet by completing a major debt refinancing."