2014 was a big year for Level 3 Communications.
The Broomfield firm expanded into office space by acquiring TW Telecom, ended the year with $325 million cash and made its first annual profit since going public in 1998.
“Level 3 had a solid 2014, delivering strong financial and operational results and completing the acquisition of TW Telecom,” Level 3 CEO Jeff Storey
said in a statement.
The Internet infrastructure company, which nearly went bankrupt during the dot-com bust in the early 2000s, is growing again. On Wednesday, it reported its fourth-quarter 2014 and year-end results. Quarterly net income tripled to $45 million, compared with the year-ago quarter’s $14 million. Fourth-quarter revenues, which excluded one-time costs from the TW Telecom acquisition, edged up to $1.63 billion from $1.6 billion a year ago.
Growth came from core network services and popular services such as Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network, or IPVPN, which provides customers with a secure and private connection to electronically communicate between locations around the world.
The TW Telecom purchase, if counted, boosted Level 3’s fourth-quarter revenues to $2.05 billion, compared with $1.99 billion in 2013.
The purchase, which closed in October, added 3,407 employees to Level 3, which now employs more than 13,000. In 2014, TW Telecom also saw its revenues grow 7.7 percent over the previous year.
For the year, net income came in at $293 million, up from the prior year’s net loss of $109 million. Revenues edged up to $6.5 billion, from $6.3 billion in 2013. It was the first annual profit since 1998.
An investor highlight was Level 3’s cash flow of $325 million. The company made money from operations. For 2015, Storey said he expects cash flow to be at $550 million to $600 million.
Analysts, which had predicted 33 cents-per-share earnings, were pleased with per-share earnings of 35 cents, excluding the special items.
Level 3’s stock price ended up 2.2 percent for the day, ending at $52.50.
