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MCI edges past 4Q forecast
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February 11, 1999: 10:28 a.m. ET
Telecom posts 23 cents a share net in first full quarter of combination
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - MCI WorldCom, ending its first full quarter as a combined entity, reported fourth-quarter net income Thursday of 23 cents a diluted share, more than double the pro forma earnings of a year earlier and 1 cent above analysts' consensus.
The telecommunications company said net income for the three months ended Dec. 31 was $457 million, compared with a pro forma $102 million in the final three months of 1997.
Revenue for the company, excluding its interest in the Embratel communications provider in Brazil, was $8 billion in the three months, up from a pro forma $7 billion in the 1997 period.
"We have intensified our focus on what we do best -- provide core communications services," said MCI WorldCom president Bernard Ebbers. "Including today's announcement with EDS, over the past year we have shed virtually all of our non-communications services businesses."
Earlier Thursday, MCI WorldCom said it is selling its MCI Systemhouse information technologies unit to Electronic Data Systems for $1.65 billion as part of an overall joint venture between the companies.
The company said that, on a pro forma basis, communications services revenue in the quarter was up 17 percent and traffic was up 13 percent.
"We accelerated our capital spending in the fourth quarter, particularly in international and next-generation network deployment, which should not only sustain future revenue growth but also drive significant cost reductions across all communications services," Ebbers said.
For all 1998, the company reported a loss of $2.67 billion, or $2.12 a diluted share, after research, development and other charges. Revenue totaled $30.42 billion, up from a pro forma $26.53 billion.
The merger of MCI and WorldCom was completed in September, late in the company's third quarter.
MCI WorldCom shares closed Wednesday at 76-1/4, down ½. 
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MCI WorldCom
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