ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—International cable television provider Liberty Global Inc. said Wednesday it swung to a second-quarter loss despite a jump in revenue as the year-ago period benefited from a hefty one-time gain.
The loss for the quarter ended in June was $129.7 million, or 34 cents per share, versus a prior-year profit of $24.2 million, or 5 cents per share. In the 2006 quarter, the loss from continuing operations amounted to $184.3 million, or 40 cents per share.
Quarterly revenue improved 37 percent to $2.18 billion from $1.59 billion. Excluding the effect of currency, revenue rose 32 percent. It made progress selling bundled services, with 4.9 million customers receiving more than one service, a 47 percent increase from the same quarter last year.
On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast a loss of 19 cents per share and revenue of $2.17 billion.
Adjusted operating cash flow rose 16 percent to $861 million.
Liberty Global, whose board chairman is cable pioneer John Malone, serves 16 million customers in 17 countries worldwide. The company added 298,000 subscribers during the quarter, ending the period with 23.1 million video, broadband Internet and telephony users.
Liberty Global was hurt by competition in Europe, particularly in Hungary and Romania, for video customers but had strong results with J:Com in Japan and VTR in Chile. It said it would step up its plans for upgrades in Romania and loyalty discounts.
CEO Mike Fries said he expected a strong second half of the year, particularly in the fourth quarter, as the company launches new products and services and ramps up fall marketing campaigns.
Shares of Liberty Global’s series A stock closed down 46 cents to $43.03 Wednesday.
