Axia Reports Q4 2015 Results

Axia Reports Results for the three months and year ended December 31, 2015

CALGARY, March 9, 2016 /CNW/ -

Year End Highlights

• FTTO customer connections of 12,122 increased 8% from 11,260 a year ago.
• Business unit revenue of $141.2 million increased 11% from $127.5 million from the prior year. North America revenue of $63.7 million increased 12% year-over-year. Covage revenue of $77.6 million increased 10% from the prior year.
• Business unit EBITDA of $36.5 million increased from $32.7 million last year. EBITDA growth was driven primarily by Covage, North American EBITDA was relatively flat.
• In North America we completed the Alberta Community Interconnect Grid (CIG), and made progress in three FTTH communities. In France, two large bids were won for a FTTH network in Seine-et-Marne and FTTO network in Grand Lyon.
• Total cash as at December 31, 2015 was $17.3 million and total loans payable $17.0 million
• IFRS net income of $4.7 million or $0.07 per share compared to a net loss of $0.1 million or $0.00 per share in the prior year.

Fourth Quarter Highlights

• Business unit revenue of $37.8 million increased 12% from $33.6 million in the prior quarter last year. North America revenue of $16.6 million increased 10% year-over-year. Covage revenue of $21.2 million increased 15% from the same quarter in the prior year.
• Business unit EBITDA of $10.1 million increased from $8.8 million in the prior quarter of last year.
• IFRS net income grew to $1.6 million or $0.02 per share compared to a net loss of $0.4 million or $0.00 per share in the prior quarter of last year.

The consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 and related MD&A have been reviewed and approved by Axia's Audit Committee and Board of Directors. Axia recognizes that the majority of its investors are now accessing Axia's corporate and financial information either through pushed news services, directly from ir.axia.com or SEDAR. Thus, Axia has prepared this truncated news release to alert investors to its results and that a more detailed explanation and analysis is readily available in the MD&A. These reports have been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and also posted at ir.axiafibrenet.com.

Business Unit Results
* Axia's business unit summary includes 100% of the financial and operational results of Axia North America and Covage.  Please see the audited consolidated financial statements and related Management's Discussion & Analysis (MD&A) for more details.

Non-GAAP Measures
The term adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) is not defined by IFRS and may not have a standardized meaning, therefore it is referred to as a Non-GAAP measure. This measure is used by management to evaluate the performance of Axia and its business and has been presented in this news release in order to provide shareholders and potential investors with additional Information.

EBITDA is commonly used by management, investors and creditors in the calculation of ratios and financial performance and is calculated as the sum of operating income plus depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as the sum of operating income plus impairment losses and depreciation and amortization.

Notice of Conference Call
Axia will hold a conference call with the investment community on Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 9 a.m. (Eastern), 7 a.m. (Mountain).To participate in the conference call, please dial [phone] in Toronto and internationally. If you are connecting from other parts of Canada, dial 1-888-231-8191. Please call ten minutes prior to the start of the call. In addition, a live webcast (listen only mode) of the conference call will be available at:

http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1136633&s=1&k=4ECF9BCEFF0B3B4B93F040E320DEEFBB

A replay of the conference call will be available at [phone] or 1-855-859-2056, passcode 51870771 from 6 p.m. (Eastern) Thursday, March 10, 2016 to midnight (Eastern) Thursday, March 17, 2016 or through the webcast archives at www.newswire.ca.

About Axia

Axia owns, operates and sells services over fibre optic communications infrastructure.  Axia trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "AXX".

This News Release contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "should", "believe", "anticipate", "may", "plan", "will", "continue", "intend", "expect", "estimate" and other similar expressions which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These statements are based on our current expectations, estimates, forecasts and assumptions about the operating environment, economies and markets in which we operate and are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Examples of these statements would include those where Axia forecasts its success and timing in winning new NGN business, the timing and amount of future dividend payments, the timing of completion and estimated total costs of our networks, the revenues and operating costs associated with these networks over time, and Axia's ability to generate future cash flows and avail itself of other financing alternatives given current market conditions. The assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information, include, but are not limited to, changes in customer markets, changes in demand for our services, our inability to deliver services in a timely and cost efficient manner, technological change, general economic conditions and other risks detailed from time to time in our ongoing filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities, including those in our Annual Information Form, which filings can be found at www.sedar.com. Given these assumptions, risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise

SOURCE Axia NetMedia Corporation

please visit Axia's website at www.axia.com, or contact: Glenn Jamieson, Investor Relations, Axia NetMedia Corporation, [phone], [email protected]