Uniti Group Reports $3.6M 2Q Loss, Announces 2 Deals

Uniti Group Inc. of Little Rock on Thursday reported a $3.6 million second-quarter loss, or 3 cents per share, which was better than the $16.5 million loss, or 11 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

The company (Nasdaq: UNIT), a spinoff of Windstream Holdings Inc. of Little Rock that was formerly known as Communications Sales & Leasing, reported revenue of $247 million, up from $213 million. 

The publicly traded real estate investment trust also announced two transactions: its $31 million, all-cash acquisition of fiber assets from CableSouth Media3 LLC of Milan, Tennessee, and the execution of a dark fiber lease with an unnamed multiple systems operator on existing Uniti fiber.

“We are excited to announce two transactions today that demonstrate the continued momentum we are experiencing across all of our verticals. The fiber acquisition and leaseback transaction with CableSouth Media represents our first purchase from a cable provider and another acquisition of an attractive fiber portfolio with lease-up potential. The lease with a national MSO on previously acquired fiber reinforces the value of Uniti Leasing’s growing portfolio,” President and CEO Kenny Gunderman said in a news release.

“We are also very pleased that the Internal Revenue Service issued a favorable private letter ruling (PLR) in connection with our request for guidance to clarify the treatment of income we receive from certain communication infrastructure assets,” he said. “In the PLR, the IRS addressed and favorably ruled that the revenues generated from certain communication infrastructure assets that presently are part of Uniti’s taxable REIT subsidiaries would be considered rents from real property.”