Century Telephone Enterprises Inc was treated even more kindly by Moody’s Investors Service Inc, which upgraded the senior unsecured debentures to Baa1 from Baa3 – which appears to be one notch better than the equivalent Standard & Poor’s rating – and assigned a (P)Baa1 to the firm’s $400m senior unsecured shelf registration. The action reflects Moody’s expectation that Century will continue to generate stable operating cash flows from its regulated telephone subsidiaries while increasing cash flow generation from its growing cellular properties. Moody’s expects Century’s balance sheet strength will be maintained at the current level because of its internal cash generation and conservative funding decisions. Continued growth in access lines, good regulatory relations and continued cost controls would keep telephone operating margins stable at their current levels, while cellular operating margins should continue to increase as properties mature and Century capitalises on the high operating leverage of the business, it said.
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