GTE Reports 11% Earnings Per Share Gain in Fourth Quarter Volumes Reach All-Time High, Fueling Revenue Growth and Double-Digit Earnings Growth in 1996
Jan. 28, 1997--GTE Corp. today announced that fourth-quarter 1996 operational earnings per share increased 11 percent over the same period last year. Net income was $784 million, or 82 cents per share, compared with $719 million, or 74 cents per share, before special items in the fourth quarter of 1995.
For the full-year 1996, earnings per share increased 10 percent. Net income before special items was $2.79 billion, or $2.88 per share in 1996, compared with $2.53 billion, or $2.61 per share in 1995.
"1996 was another excellent year for GTE," said GTE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Charles R. Lee. "GTE is achieving its strategic objectives, as well as delivering record financial results, because of our ability to seize opportunities in this new competitive era," Lee continued. "Domestically, we have taken advantage of opportunities provided by the 1996 Telecommunications Act, such as successfully rolling out long-distance services nationwide. In just over nine months, we added more than 825,000 long-distance customers. At the same time, we became the first major local telephone company to bundle a full array of services on a single bill -- a single point of customer contact.
"These strategic actions, along with the strong revenue growth and productivity improvements in our core businesses, are positioning us for the future and driving double-digit earnings growth," stated Lee. "This quarter marks the sixth consecutive quarter of earnings growth of 10 percent or more.
"Internationally, we continued to strengthen the company through new growth opportunities. We began a paging services business in China and, just recently, we were awarded a nationwide digital cellular license in Taiwan as part of our participation in the Pacific Communication Services consortium there.
"Our success over the past 12 months demonstrates our ability to execute with speed, in an openly competitive market," Lee added.
For the full-year 1996, GTE's consolidated revenues and sales increased 7 percent to $21.34 billion, compared with $19.96 billion in 1995, driven by:
- Record growth in domestic access lines of 1.5 million, or 8 percent
- Record growth of 11 percent in domestic access minutes of use
- Domestic cellular customer growth of 738,000, or 25 percent
- Revenue growth of 35 percent in new and enhanced services, including voice messaging, data services, long distance, Caller ID and Internet access
- International network revenue growth of 7 percent, spurred by
aggressive local rate rebalancing and a 41 percent increase in cellular customers in Canada and the Dominican Republic. |
