Sprint Corp. Loss Widens

Sprint Corp. on Tuesday reported its loss widened more than expected in the final quarter of the year, though revenue slipped less than anticipated.

The company added 22,000 postpaid net subscribers—its most-profitable type of customer—during the quarter, which it said was more than both Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. for the first time on record. Total net additions were 447,000.

Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank bought control of the American wireless carrier in 2013 for about $22 billion with plans to shake up the business and steal customers, but the turnaround has faced obstacles.

"Fiscal 2015 was a transformational year in the turnaround of Sprint," said Chief Executive Marcelo Claure, pointing to reduced operating expenses and stabilized operating revenue.

In October, Sprint said it was preparing to cut as much as $2.5 billion in costs in the following six months, as the struggling wireless carrier stepped up its belt-tightening. On Tuesday, Sprint said it cut $1.3 billion during the year in service and selling, general and administrative expenses. The company said it expects a sustainable reduction of $2 billion or more of run-rate operating expenses.

In all for the period ended March 31, Sprint reported a loss of $554 million, or 14 cents a share, wider than $224 million, or 6 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue slipped 2.5% to $8.07 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast a loss of 12 cents a share on revenue of $8.06 billion.

Sprint's postpaid churn rate for the latest quarter, a measure of service cancellations, fell to 1.72% for mainstream customers from 1.84% in the year-earlier quarter.

For 2016, Sprint said it expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to be $9.5 billion to $10 billion.

Shares, which have risen 23% over the past three months, added 5.7% premarket to $3.69.

Write to Anne Steele at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 03, 2016 08:55 ET (12:55 GMT)

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