Liberty Latin America Reports Q1 2026 Results

Solid postpaid net adds across all segments

Improved cash flow from operations and Adjusted FCF

Jamaica recovery ahead of expectations

Intention to distribute preferred stock; active stock repurchases

DENVER, Colorado--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Liberty Latin America Ltd. (“Liberty Latin America” or “LLA”) (NASDAQ: LILA and LILAK, OTC Link: LILAB) today announced its financial and operating results for the three months (“Q1”) ended March 31, 2026.

President and CEO Balan Nair commented, “The first quarter represented a strong start to 2026 for Liberty Latin America, adding 50,000 postpaid net additions with all segments contributing positively, including Puerto Rico for a second consecutive quarter, as we maintain a razor-sharp focus on our commercial positioning across the group.”

“Key metrics such as Adjusted OIBDA and Adjusted FCF came in ahead of our own expectations, which had reflected the tougher year-over-year comparables due to the impact of Hurricane Melissa and from the timing of B2B projects, notably in C&W Panama and Liberty Networks. We anticipate that year-over-year headwinds will ease through the remainder of the year and be supported by revenue growth and ongoing cost reduction initiatives.”

“Our recovery in Jamaica, meanwhile, is proceeding ahead of prior expectations and we are accelerating our ambition for fixed home reconnections this year, all within our anticipated capex envelope. Our Jamaican mobile operation continues to scale at pace, successfully leveraging off our satellite initiatives both during and following Hurricane Melissa. We are also thrilled to have announced our agreement to launch Central America’s first direct-to-cell service, Liberty-Starlink, in Costa Rica.”

“With bolstered confidence in our business, liquidity and cash flow trajectory, and with a focus on unlocking value for shareholders, we are announcing the intent in Q2 to distribute to our shareholders $500 million in preferred stock with a 9% dividend rate. We believe this capital allocation strategy provides our shareholders with a compelling cash return preferred stock, combined with an even more attractively geared common equity.”

“Notwithstanding this significant development, for the first time since H1 2024, we conducted stock repurchases in March 2026. We will be opportunistic with respect to further repurchases, as we have approximately $185 million remaining under our current repurchase authorization. As we look out through the rest of the year, we continue to be highly focused on organic growth, cash flow expansion, as well as our ongoing strategic initiatives.”

Intent to distribute Preferred Stock to LLA shareholders

Today we are announcing the intention to distribute to LLA shareholders a new series of preferred stock, with an aggregate notional amount of $500 million and a dividend rate of 9%. We are working to complete this distribution before the end of Q2 and will keep shareholders apprised of key dates, including the final distribution ratio and other terms.

This structure demonstrates our confidence in the future cash profile of LLA, providing our shareholders with a high cash return security as well as regearing our common equity. Beyond the expected $45 million annual cash dividend, we expect to have ample cash for other purposes, including stock buybacks, investments and/or deleveraging.

LLA's Director Emeritus Dr. John Malone, Executive Chairman Mike Fries, and President and CEO Balan Nair have each indicated their intention to be long-term holders of the preferred shares both directly and indirectly.

Business Highlights

• Liberty Caribbean: Full quarter of hurricane impact
  • Hurricane impacting YoY trends, though Jamaica recovery ahead of expectations
  • Plans to accelerate fixed reconnections in Jamaica
• C&W Panama: Solid residential performance
  • Momentum on residential fixed; falling churn on mobile
  • Normalized B2B trends in Q1 after very strong Q4 2025 contribution
• Liberty Networks: Robust underlying growth
  • Continued healthy demand for subsea capacity driving Wholesale revenue
  • Adjusted OIBDA in Q1 negatively impacted by timing of project costs
• Liberty Puerto Rico: Turning the corner on volumes
  • A second quarter of positive postpaid net adds
  • Diminishing broadband subscriber losses through Q1
• Liberty Costa Rica: Healthy postpaid net adds
  • Maintained fixed volumes in a competitive market
  • Cost initiatives in focus for 2026

Financial and Operating Highlights

Revenue Highlights

The following table presents (i) revenue of each of our segments and corporate operations for the periods indicated and (ii) the percentage change from period-to-period on both a reported and rebased basis:

• Reported and rebased revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2026 was flat and 1% lower as compared to the corresponding prior-year periods, respectively.
  • Strong growth at Liberty Networks was offset by declines in Liberty Caribbean and Liberty Costa Rica.

Q1 2026 Revenue Growth – Segment Highlights

(All growth rates are year-over-year unless otherwise specified)

• Liberty Caribbean: revenue decreased 3% on both a reported and rebased basis, driven by a full quarter impact of Hurricane Melissa. For the first quarter we estimate that Hurricane Melissa negatively impacted revenue by $12 million on an underlying basis, which was partly offset by $6 million of revenue for services rendered to customers immediately following the hurricane that was believed to be uncertain of collection in 2025.
  • We have seen continued solid momentum in mobile, excepting only for a seasonally lighter Q1 sequentially on prepaid. Postpaid volumes and prepaid pricing continue to be supportive in Jamaica and across Liberty Caribbean more broadly. This contributed positively to residential mobile service revenue for the segment, with the overall decline of 1% for total residential mobile revenue reflecting lower inbound roaming revenue and lower handset sales.
  • Residential fixed revenue declined by 8% mainly due to the headwind from offline and lost subscribers from Hurricane Melissa.
  • B2B revenue increased by 1% driven by the aforementioned revenue recovery.
• C&W Panama: revenue decreased by 1% in Q1. Total residential revenue grew 1% and in-line with the prior quarter. Mobile postpaid revenue, in particular, remains supportive on the back of 10% subscriber growth. While we had a very strong performance in the prior quarter in B2B, in the seasonally quieter Q1 we reported a 47% sequential decline.
• Liberty Networks: revenue increased by 10% and 7% on a reported and rebased basis, respectively. This was driven principally by our Wholesale business and strong underlying demand for subsea capacity. Following a strong contribution in the prior quarter, project revenue was more limited in Q1, reflecting the timing of project milestones.
• Liberty Puerto Rico: revenue was 1% lower in Q1. This reflected a 1% increase in residential mobile revenue, supported by handset sales and inbound roaming, offset by a 2% decrease in residential fixed revenue. The residential fixed revenue decline reflected the lower subscriber base, notwithstanding the better RGU momentum this quarter, partly offset by higher ARPU following last year's price increase.
• Liberty Costa Rica: revenue was flat on a reported basis and fell 4% on a rebased basis. We continued to grow residential mobile revenue, up 2% on a rebased basis, on the back of strong postpaid subscriber momentum. This was, however, more than offset by the residential fixed business which saw revenue fall 18% on a rebased basis. While we continue to see competitive pressure on residential fixed ARPU, we note that the primary driver of this decline resulted from lower sales on our buy-to-own ("BTO") model for equipment.

Operating Income

• We reported operating income of $145 million and $128 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively.
  • The improvement for the three month comparison is primarily due to a decrease in (i) depreciation and amortization, and (ii) impairment, restructuring and other operating items.

Adjusted OIBDA Highlights

The following table presents (i) Adjusted OIBDA of each of our reportable segments and our corporate category for the periods indicated and (ii) the percentage change from period-to-period on both a reported and rebased basis:

• Adjusted OIBDA for the three months ended March 31, 2026 was flat on a reported basis and declined by 1% on a rebased basis as compared to the corresponding prior-year period.
  • We saw strong expansion in Adjusted OIBDA from Puerto Rico, with declines mainly at Liberty Caribbean, Liberty Networks and Liberty Costa Rica. The headwinds from Hurricane Melissa were $13 million at the Adjusted OIBDA level in the first quarter. On a net basis, reflecting the $6 million revenue recovery, the headwind was $8 million.
  • In addition to the impact of the hurricane, phasing on certain B2B projects presented headwinds to Adjusted OIBDA in Q1 on a year-over-year basis. Across the group, we continue to execute on a number of cost initiatives which should bear fruit during 2026.

Q1 2026 Adjusted OIBDA Growth – Segment Highlights

(All growth rates are year-over-year unless otherwise specified)

• Liberty Caribbean: Adjusted OIBDA fell by 6% resulting from the drag of Hurricane Melissa.
• C&W Panama: Adjusted OIBDA fell by 1% in Q1, tracking the revenue performance over the period.
• Liberty Networks: Adjusted OIBDA decreased by 5% reflecting the timing of project-related costs booked this quarter.
• Liberty Puerto Rico: Adjusted OIBDA increased by 12%. The improvement reflects a return to more normalized bad debt expense levels this quarter, as well as the aggressive cost-out program run through 2025, and the streamlining of various operating structures and processes, which together more than offset the small revenue decline.
• Liberty Costa Rica: Adjusted OIBDA declined by 4% and 8% on a reported and rebased basis, respectively, primarily reflecting the revenue decline in the period. We continue to focus on cost reduction initiatives in Costa Rica, which will yield benefits in 2026.

Property & Equipment Additions and Capital Expenditures

The table below highlights the categories of the property and equipment additions (P&E Additions) for the indicated periods and reconciles to cash paid for capital expenditures, net.

Operating Income less Property & Equipment Additions

• Operating income less property and equipment additions was $35 million and $8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively.

Adjusted OIBDA less Property & Equipment Additions

The following table presents (i) Adjusted OIBDA less property and equipment additions for each of our reportable segments and Liberty Latin America for the periods indicated and (ii) the percentage change from period-to-period.

Summary of Debt, Finance Lease Obligations and Cash & Cash Equivalents

The following table details the U.S. dollar equivalent balances of the outstanding principal amounts of our debt and finance lease obligations, and cash and cash equivalents at March 31, 2026:

Residential Fixed ARPU per Customer Relationship

The following table provides residential fixed ARPU per customer relationship for the indicated periods:

Residential Mobile ARPU

The following table provides residential ARPU per mobile subscriber for the indicated periods:

Forward-Looking Statements and Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding our strategies, priorities and objectives, financial and operational performance; cost reduction and efficiency initiatives; growth expectations; our digital strategy, product innovation and commercial plans and projects; subscriber growth; expectations on demand for connectivity in the region; the recovery by our Puerto Rico and Jamaica operations; the impact of Hurricane Melissa on our business and operations; the strength of our balance sheet and tenor of our debt; capital intensity expectations; our anticipated preferred share distribution, including the declaration and timing thereof and the terms of the preferred shares; future share repurchases; and other information and statements that are not historical fact. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. These risks and uncertainties include events that are outside of our control, such as hurricanes and other natural disasters, political or social events, and pandemics, such as COVID-19, the uncertainties surrounding such events, the ability and cost to restore networks in the markets impacted by hurricanes or generally to respond to any such events; the continued use by subscribers and potential subscribers of our services and their willingness to upgrade to our more advanced offerings; our ability to meet challenges from competition, to manage rapid technological change or to maintain or increase rates to our subscribers or to pass through increased costs to our subscribers; the effects of changes in laws or regulation; general economic factors; our ability to successfully acquire and integrate new businesses and realize anticipated efficiencies from acquired businesses; the availability of attractive programming for our video services and the costs associated with such programming; our ability to achieve forecasted financial and operating targets; the outcome of any pending or threatened litigation; the ability of our operating companies to access cash of their respective subsidiaries; the impact of our operating companies' future financial performance, or market conditions generally, on the availability, terms and deployment of capital; fluctuations in currency exchange and interest rates; the ability of suppliers and vendors to timely deliver quality products, equipment, software, services and access; our ability to adequately forecast and plan future network requirements including the costs and benefits associated with network expansions; and other factors detailed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recently filed Form 10-K and Form 10-Q.

Investor Relations
Soomit Datta
ir@lla.com

Corporate Communications
Michael Coakley
llacommunications@lla.com