Feb 18, 2002 : Equinix Achieves EBITDA Breakeven

📅 February 18, 2002 - Equinix, Inc. (equinix.com), a provider of Internetexchange services, today reported its fourth quarter and year-end resultsfor the period ended Dec. 31, 2001.

Revenues for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2001 were $17.5 million, a116% increase over revenues of $8.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2000.For the year ended Dec. 31, 2001, revenues were $63.4 million, a 388%increase compared with revenues of $13.0 million for the year ended Dec. 31,2000.
EBITDA loss for the quarter was $1.6 million, a sequential 82% decrease fromthe $8.7 million EBITDA loss reported for the third quarter of 2001. EBITDAloss for the year ended Dec. 31, 2001 was $38.0 million, a 39% decreasecompared with an EBITDA loss of $62.4 million for the year ended Dec. 31,2000. Net loss for the fourth quarter was $27.4 million, or a net loss pershare of $0.34 on 80.6 million weighted average shares outstanding. Net lossfor the year ended Dec. 31, 2001 was $188.4 million, or a net loss per shareof $2.39 on 78.7 million weighted average shares outstanding. Net loss,excluding a third quarter restructuring charge, was $139.8 million, or a netloss per share of $1.78.
As of Dec. 31, total liquidity was $135.7 million, which was comprised ofcash and cash equivalents of $87.7 million, restricted cash of $28.0 millionand available borrowings of $20.0 million. Capital expenditures for thefourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2001 were $25.0 million and $102.1 million forthe year ended Dec. 31, 2001. Reflecting the strength of its customer base,Equinix's collection efforts remained strong with DSO at 32 days.
The year-end customer count was 218 with the addition of 39 new customerssuch as Accenture, Cox Communications, France Telecom, Sprint, ShawCommunications and WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive. The company alsorecognized additional orders in the quarter from 38 existing customersincluding AT&T, Google and IBM.
Equinix now has more than 75 networks participating in its IBX centers.These networks, including AT&T, France Telecom, Genuity, Level 3, Qwest,Sprint, UUNET/WorldCom and others, allow customers direct access to thenetworks that serve more than 90% of the world's Internet routes, supportingthe core value of Equinix IBX centers as the highest performance points onthe Internet. This critical mass of networks uniquely positions Equinix tooffer Internet exchange services, such as content peering and trafficexchange, that are essential to the growth and reliability of the Internet.
"Despite the challenging market, Equinix has succeeded in meeting the EBITDAprofitability commitments we first set during our IPO a year and a halfago," said Peter Van Camp, chairman and CEO of Equinix. "For the year, wecontinued to grow our revenues sequentially and increased our net customerbase by 70% with leading names such as British Telecom, Genuity, Google,MSN, and SBC in addition to the top customers won in fourth quarter. Thecompany delivered new products to an expanded customer base, grew revenuesnearly four-fold over last year and performed well ahead of EBITDAexpectations."
For the first quarter 2002, the company expects revenue to be in the rangeof $20 to $21 million and EBITDA for the first quarter is expected to bebetween breakeven and $1 million. Capital expenditures for the quarter areexpected to be between $3 and $5 million. Total liquidity at March 31, 2002is expected to be in excess of $103 million, including $55 million of cashand cash equivalents, $28 million of restricted cash and $20 million ofavailable borrowings.
Full year revenues are projected to be in the range of $96 to $99 millionwith EBITDA in the range of $5 to $8 million. Capital expenditures for theyear 2002 are expected to be between $10 and $15 million.
"We expect the momentum of new customers as well as growth from our existingcustomer base to drive our success in 2002," said Van Camp. "As we drivetoward profitability, Equinix will continue to grow our long-term leadershipposition. We will continue to provide customers with Internet exchangeservices that leverage our unique position as a core hub for the Internet,to help customers increase performance while reducing the overall costs ofoperations."