WOW! REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR 2021 RESULTS

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Feb. 24, 2022/PRNewswire/ -- WideOpenWest, Inc. ("WOW!" or the "Company") (NYSE: WOW), one of the nation's leading broadband providers, with an efficient, high-performing network that passes 1.9 million residential, business and wholesale consumers, today announced financial and operating results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021.

Financial Highlights ⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

• Fourth quarter Total Revenue from continuing operations of $178.3 million, a decrease of $8.7 million, or 5%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2020
• Full year Total Revenue from continuing operations of $725.7 million, a decrease of $4.5 million, or 1%, compared to the corresponding period of 2020
• Fourth quarter HSD Revenue from continuing operations totaled $100.5 million, an increase of $4.9 million, or 5%, compared to fourth quarter of 2020
• Full year HSD Revenue from continuing operations totaled $399.1 million, an increase of $40.1 million, or 11%, compared to the corresponding period of 2020
• Net Loss from continuing operations was $2.2 million and $68.6 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021
• Fourth quarter Pro Forma Adjusted EBITDA was $69.0 million, a decrease of $0.1 million, compared to the fourth quarter of 2020
• Fourth quarter Pro Forma Adjusted EBITDA margin of 38.7% compared to 37.0% for the fourth quarter of 2020
• Full year Pro Forma Adjusted EBITDA was $261.6 million, an increase of $20.9 million, or 9%, compared to the corresponding period of 2020
• Full year Pro Forma Adjusted EBITDA margin of 36.0% compared to 33.0% for the corresponding period of 2020
• Added 2,200 HSD RGUs in the fourth quarter and 12,900 HSD RGUs during 2021

Business Highlights

• Completed the second sale in November of three service areas to Astound Broadband for $661 million
• Received credit upgrade from both Moody's and S&P to B1/BB- respectively on transformative deleveraging
• Closed refinancing with a new credit facility in December, consisting of $730 million term loan B and $250 million revolver
• Announced first greenfield markets in Seminole County and Orange County, Florida

"This past year has been one of the most consequential years in WOW!'s history. We continued to execute our strategy, growing high-speed data revenue from continuing operations by more than 11% from last year, increasing pro forma adjusted EBITDA by nearly 9% and dramatically lowering our leverage ratio to become a low-leverage, high-growth company," said Teresa Elder, WOW!'s CEO." This enabled us to launch our first greenfield markets in Seminole County and Orange County, Florida which is an exciting next step in WOW!'s growth as we look forward to delivering choice, reliability and the value of WOW! to all of our customers."

"We transformed the financial position of WOW! and continue to make great progress in executing our broadband-first strategy as our high-speed data business now makes up the majority of our revenue," said John Rego, WOW!'s CFO. "These great results drove margin expansion for the fourth quarter and full year and positions us well for future growth in 2022."

Revenue
Total Revenue from continuing operations was $178.3 million and $725.7 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021, down $8.7 million and $4.5 million as compared to the corresponding periods in 2020.

Total Subscription Revenue from continuing operations for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021 was $165.1 millionand $672.0 million, down $6.1 million, or 4%, and $0.1 million, as compared to the corresponding periods in 2020. The decreases were driven by a shift in service offering mix, as we continue to experience a reduction in Video and Telephony RGUs. These decreases were offsetby increases in average revenue per unit ("ARPU"), as HSD customers continue to purchase higher speed tiers; coupled with HSD and Video rate increases issued in 2021 and an increase in volume attributable exclusively to the addition of HSD subscribers.

Other Business Services Revenue from continuing operations totaled $5.4 million and $22.3 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021, down $0.3 million and $1.1 million as compared to the corresponding periods in 2020. These decreases were primarily due to decreases in data center revenue.

Other Revenue from continuing operations totaled $7.8 million and $31.4 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021, down $2.3 million and $3.3 million compared to the corresponding periods in 2020, primarily due to decreases in advertising, service call fee, and line assurance revenue.

Costs and Expenses
Operating Expenses (excluding Depreciation and Amortization) from continuing operations totaled $89.5 million and $376.4 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021, down $9.1 million, or 9%, and $28.8 million, or 7%, compared to the corresponding periods in 2020 primarily due to lower direct operating expenses.

Selling, General, and Administrative expenses from continuing operations totaled $42.4 million and $175.2 million for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021, down $2.8 million, or 6%, and up $5.0 million, or 3%, compared to the corresponding periods in 2021. The decrease for the quarter-to-date period is primarily related to a decrease in marketing expenses. The increase for the year-to-date period is primarily attributable to increases in marketing, compensation (including stock compensation), professional service and legal expenses associated with the sale of five of our markets and the refinancing of our long-term debt, partially offset by decreases in costs associated with digital transformation initiatives.

Net Loss (Income)
Net Loss from continuing operations for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021 was $2.2 million and $68.6 million, compared to $33.9 million and $108.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Pro Forma Adjusted EBITDA
Pro Forma Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021 was $69.0 million and $261.6 million, a decrease of $0.1 million and increase of $20.9 million, compared to the corresponding periods in 2020. Pro Forma Adjusted EBITDA margin was 38.7% and 36.0% for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to 37.0% and 33.0% for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2020.

Subscribers
WOW! reported Total Subscribers from continuing operations of 532,900 as of December 31, 2021, an increase of 10,000, or 2%, compared to December 31, 2020, up 1,300 compared to September 30, 2021. HSD RGUs totaled 511,700 as of December 31, 2021, an increase of 12,900, or 3%, compared to December 31, 2020, up 2,200 compared to September 30, 2021.

Edge-Outs
Edge-Out Projects from continuing operations reached a total of 78,200 homes passed and 19,300 Subscribers since inception.

The 2019 Edge-Out projects from continuing operations include 2,000 Subscribers, which represents 19.6% penetration on such nodes. The 2020 Edge-Out projects from continuing operations include 700 Subscribers, which represents 20.6% penetration on such nodes. The 2021 Edge-Out projects from continuing operations include 600 Subscribers, which represents 30.0% penetration on such nodes.

Capital Expenditures
Capital Expenditures from continuing operations totaled $162.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, representing a decrease of $9.1 million, or 5%, compared to the year ended December 31, 2020.The decrease is primarily due to a decrease in expenditures related to customer premise equipment ("CPE") partially offset by network enhancements focused on increasing bandwidth capacity, standardization and reliability to meet the needs of our customers. Capital Expenditures for the year ended December 31, 2021 equates to 22% of Total Revenue from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Liquidity and Leverage
As of December 31, 2021, the total outstanding amount of long-term debt and finance lease obligations was $752.7 million, and cash and cash equivalents were $193.2 million, the majority of which is being held for the remaining income taxes as a result of the sale of our service areas, due in April 2022. Total Net Leverage, adjusting for cash held for taxes, as of December 31, 2021, was 2.7X on a LTM Pro Forma Adjusted EBITDA basis, up from 2.6X at September 30, 2021, and undrawn revolver capacity totaled $250.0 million.

First Quarter and Full Year 2022 Guidance

Webcast
WOW! will host a webcast on Thursday, February 24, 2022, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern to discuss the operating and financial results contained in this press release. The conference call and webcast will be broadcast live on the Company's investor relations website at ir.wowway.com. Those parties interested in participating can use the information as follows:

A replay of the call will be available on February 24, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. ET, on the investor relations website or by telephone. To access the telephone replay, which will be available until March 8, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. ET, please dial (800) 770-2030 and use conference ID 4844814.

About WOW!
WOW! is one of the nation's leading broadband providers, with an efficient, high-performing network that passes 1.9 million residential, business and wholesale consumers. WOW! provides services in 14 markets located in Michigan, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia. With an expansive portfolio of advanced services, including high-speed Internet services, cable TV, phone, business data, voice, and cloud services, the company is dedicated to providing outstanding service at affordable prices. WOW! also serves as a leader in exceptional human resources practices, having been recognized seven times by the National Association for Business Resources as a Best & Brightest Company to Work For, winning the award for the last four consecutive years. Visit www.wowway.com for more information.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release that are not historical facts contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.  These forward-looking statements represent our goals, beliefs, plans and expectations about our prospects for the future and other future events. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical fact and can be identified by terms such as "may," "intend," "might," "will," "should," "could," "would," "anticipate," "expect," "believe," "estimate," "plan," "project," "predict," "potential," or the negative of these terms. Although these forward-looking statements reflect our good-faith belief and reasonable judgment based on current information, these statements are qualified by important factors, many of which are beyond our control that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors and other risks that could cause our actual results to differ materially are set forth in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report filed on Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and other reports subsequently filed with the SEC. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this report are made as of the date hereof or the date specified herein, based on information available to us as of such date. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
The Company has included certain non-GAAP financial measures in this release, including Adjusted EBITDA. These terms, as defined herein, are not intended to be considered in isolation, as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America ("GAAP"). These terms may vary from the use of similar terms by other companies in our industry due to different methods of calculation and therefore are not necessarily comparable.

We believe that these non-GAAP measures enhance an investor's understanding of our financial performance. We believe that these non-GAAP measures are useful financial metrics to assess our operating performance from period to period by excluding certain items that we believe are not representative of our core business. We believe that these non-GAAP measures provide investors with useful information for assessing the comparability between periods of our ability to generate cash from operations sufficient to pay taxes, to service debt and to undertake Capital Expenditures. We use these non-GAAP measures for business planning purposes and in measuring our performance relative to that of our competitors. We believe these non-GAAP measures are measures commonly used by investors to evaluate our performance and that of our competitors.

Adjusted EBITDA eliminates the impact of expenses that do not relate to overall business performance and is defined by WOW! as net income (loss) before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (including impairments), impairment losses on intangibles and goodwill, write-off of any asset, loss on early extinguishment of debt, integration and restructuring expenses and all non-cash charges and expenses (including stock compensation expense) and certain other income and expenses. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss), operating income or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP as measures of operating performance, operating cash flows or liquidity. Pro Forma Adjusted EBITDA takes into account the recent sales of five service areas as though such transactions had occurred prior to the periods presented.

Refer to "Reconciliations of GAAP Measures to Non-GAAP Measures" and the accompanying tables below for a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net Income which is the most directly comparable to their corresponding GAAP financial measure.

Subscriber Information
The Company uses the terms defined below throughout this release.

Homes passed are reported as the number of serviceable addresses, such as single residence homes, apartments and condominium units, and businesses passed by our broadband network and listed in our database.

We deliver multiple services to our customers, as such we report Total Subscribers as the number of Subscribers who receive at least one of our HSD, Video or Telephony services, without regard to which or how many services they subscribe. We define each of the individual HSD Subscribers, Video Subscribers and Telephony Subscribers as a Revenue Generating Unit ("RGU").

While we take appropriate steps to ensure subscriber information is presented on a consistent and accurate basis at any given balance sheet date, we periodically review our policies in light of the variability we may encounter across our different markets due to the nature and pricing of products and services and billing systems. Accordingly, we may from time to time make appropriate adjustments to our subscriber information based on such reviews.

Additional Information Available on Website:The information in this press release should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and footnotes contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which will be posted on of our investor relations website at ir.wowway.com, when it is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). A slide presentation to accompany the conference call and a trending schedule containing historical customer and financial data will also be available on our website.

Contact:
Andrew Posen
Vice President, Head of Investor Relations
303-927-4935
andrew.posen@wowinc.com

Debra Havins
Vice President, Corporate Communications
720-527-8214
debra.havins@wowinc.com

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SOURCE WideOpenWest, Inc.