ZAYO - Zayo Group Holdings Keeps Treading Water
It's always hard for investors when a company is in the process of going private. With an offer on the table, there's often little upside for shareholders when business results are good, but poor performance can put a merger or acquisition at risk. Zayo Group Holdings (NYSE: ZAYO) announced its plans three months ago to accept a bid from a group of private equity investors, and the stock has largely traded in line with the cash offer that those investors offered.
Coming into Wednesday's fiscal fourth-quarter financial report, Zayo Group investors didn't have huge expectations for the company, anticipating slight declines in both sales and earnings. Zayo's results were slightly better than many had predicted, but more important was the news that the communications infrastructure specialist gave on its progress in completing its merger.
Zayo Group's fiscal fourth-quarter results were generally solid. Revenue of $650.6 million was down 1% from year-ago levels, but many of those following the stock had anticipated slightly larger top-line declines. Net income climbed sharply to $63 million, producing earnings of $0.26 per share. Moreover, the company's preferred adjusted pre-tax operating earnings metric was higher by 3.2% year over year.