Windstream Holdings Inc. 'BB-' Rating Outlook Revised To Negative; Debt Rating Remains On CreditWatch Positive

U.S. telecommunications service provider Windstream Holdings Inc.'s EBITDA fell short of our expectations in 2014 and we expect the company's margins will continue to weaken over the next year. We believe that operating lease adjusted leverage will be in the mid- to high-5x area in 2015, which is somewhat higher than our original expectations. We are revising our rating outlook on Windstream to negative from stable and affirming our 'BB-' corporate credit rating on the company. The 'B' issue-level rating on the company's senior unsecured debt remains on CreditWatch with positive implications. The negative outlook reflects the risk of a downgrade if Windstream is unable to reduce leverage to below 5.5x over the next 12 months. NEW YORK (Standard&

...+ U.S. telecommunications service provider Windstream Holdings Inc.'s EBITDA fell short of our expectations in 2014 and we expect the company's margins will continue to weaken over the next year. + We believe that operating lease adjusted leverage will be in the mid- to high-5x area in 2015, which is somewhat higher than our original expectations. + We are revising our rating outlook on Windstream to negative from stable and affirming our '##-' corporate credit rating on the company. + The 'B' issue-level rating on the company's senior unsecured debt remains on CreditWatch with positive implications. + The negative outlook reflects the risk of a downgrade if Windstream is unable to reduce leverage to below 5.5x over the next 12 months. NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) March 12, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today said it revised the outlook on Little Rock, Ark.-based Windstream Holdings Inc. to negative from stable and affirmed the '##-' corporate credit rating on the company. The...

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