CMCSA Comcast Corporation

By Anne Steele 

Charter Communications Inc. reported profit climbed well above expectations in the final quarter of the year on strong revenue growth as it works to integrate recently acquired Time Warner Cable.

Charter last year completed its roughly $60 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable to form the second-biggest broadband provider in the U.S., after Comcast Corp., and the third-largest pay-TV company, trailing AT&T Inc. and Comcast. As part of the transaction, Charter also acquired smaller operator Bright House Networks.

On Thursday, Chief Executive Tom Rutledge said since closing the transactions in May, "we have been managing the complicated process of integrating three different companies with over 26 million customers and 90,000 employees."

"Despite the complexity, our integration is going well," he said.

The latest quarter includes Time Warner Cable and Bright House results. In addition to its actual third-quarter results, which are skewed in comparison to the prior year because of the transactions, the company also provided results on a pro-forma basis, which give effect to the acquisitions as if they had closed at the beginning of the year-ago period.

During the quarter, revenue from video -- the largest contributor to the top line -- rose 1.9% to $4.1 billion on a pro-forma basis, while internet revenue jumped 13% to $3.31 billion. Voice revenue, meanwhile, slipped 0.5% to $719 million.

Over all, on a reported basis, Charter earned $454 million, or $1.67 a share, compared with a loss of $122 million, or $1.21, a year before. On a pro-forma basis, revenue climbed 7.2% to $10.28 billion, lifted by residential revenue growth of 6% and commercial revenue growth of 12%.

Analysts were looking for $1 in per-share profit on $10.23 billion in pro-forma revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

Shares, inactive premarket, have risen 74% over the past 12 months to $325.18.

Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 16, 2017 09:13 ET (14:13 GMT)

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