Sprint has moved from operating in the red during the fourth quarter of 2001 to operating in the black during the last quarter, and the company’s consolidated revenue for the fourth quarter is up about $16 million from a year ago, Sprint reported Wednesday.
Sprint has moved from operating in the red during the fourth quarter of 2001 to operating in the black during the last quarter, and the company’s consolidated revenue for the fourth quarter is up about $16 million from a year ago, Sprint reported Wednesday.
Fourth quarter net income was $39 million, compared to a fourth quarter loss of $1.23 billion in 2001.
Sprint posted combined revenue for its telephone and wireless operations totalling $6.53 billion for the fourth quarter of 2002, up from $6.52 billion in the fourth quarter of 2001. Fourth quarter operating income was $388 million, which the company called a “significant improvement” over an operating loss of $1.71 billion a year ago. That loss was due largely to restructuring and asset impairment charges.
Sprint, in Overland Park, Kansas, attributed the improvements to improved operating performance and vigilant cost containment.
Sprint’s telephone group, FON, reported fourth quarter earnings per share for continuing operations of 28 cents, compared to a loss of $1.06 per share a year earlier. Excluding one-time items and discontinued operations, the FON group’s earnings per share this past quarter was 37 cents, compared to 23 cents in 2001. Analysts expected earnings per share of 38 cents, according to Thomson First Call, the investment research network.
Net operating revenue for FON Group was $3.66 billion in the fourth quarter, compared to $3.87 billion during the same quarter in 2001.
Sprint’s wireless PCS Group reported a fourth quarter loss of 25 cents per share, compared to a loss of 32 cents in the same quarter a year earlier. Excluding one-time items the PCS Group’s loss per share was 18 cents, compared to 32 cents a year ago. Analysts expected a loss of 22 cents per share in the fourth quarter, according to Thomson First Call.
Fourth quarter net operating revenue for the PCS Group was $3.05 billion, up 11% from $2.76 billion a year ago.
For the full year of 2002, Sprint’s consolidated revenue was $26.63 billion, up 4% from $25.52 billion in 2001.
The FON Group’s yearly earnings per share for continuing operations was $1.18, compared to a loss of $0.33 last year. Full-year revenue was $15.18 billion, down 7 percent from $16.37 billion in 2001.
The PCS Group recorded a loss from continuing operations of 58 cents per share for the full year, compared to a loss of $1.27 during 2001. Full-year revenue was up 24% to $12.07 billion from $9.73 billion in 2001.
Also today, The Wall Street Journal reported that outgoing Chairman and CEO William Esrey and President and COO Ronald LeMay were forced out by the Sprint board because of their use of a tax shelter watched closely by the IRS.
Esrey and LeMay used the tax shelter to defer taxes on tens of millions of dollars from stock options, The Wall Street Journal reported, but there’s no indication that the two did anything illegal.
