AYLMER – Facing a bid to purchase the company from Bell Aliant, Amtelecom Income Fund reported a big jump in revenue for the year ended December 31, 2006.
The year includes 341 days of operations of People’s Tel Limited Partnership (People’s) which was acquired by the Fund on January 24, 2006.
"I am pleased to report that fourth quarter results were very strong and Amtelecom has just completed its most successful year yet." said Michael Andrews, president and CEO. "The year saw a number of major accomplishments including the successful acquisition and integration of People’s in January, a $20 million debt private placement in May, a successful unit offering in August and on January 1, 2007, the completion of our reorganization into a fund-on-partnership structure. At the same time, we have not lost our focus on the customer. We improved our customer service response times and processes, expanded service offerings and grew our overall customer base. With the acquisition and reorganization expenses now behind us, we are well positioned for solid growth in 2007."
Also today, Bell Aliant issued a release saying it has sent its announced $119 million purchase offer of $13 per unit to Amtelecom shareholders. Trading of the Amtelecom units closed Wednesday at $13.25.
Total revenues for Amtelecom’s fourth quarter came in at $8 million. Specific highlights include:
* Telecommunications revenues were $5.8 million in the quarter compared to $4.4 million in the same quarter in 2005.
* Cable television revenues held steady at $700,000 in the quarter ended 2006 compared to 2005.
* Internet revenues of $1.5 million in the fourth quarter were $800,000 more than the same period of 2005 due to continued growth in the high speed Internet business.
Amtelecom is the local telephone service provider to several communities in southwestern and central Ontario, currently providing services through approximately 26,900 residential and business access lines. Amtelecom also provides cable television service to approximately 8,700 subscribers and Internet services to approximately 13,600 subscribers.
