Allbritton Communications amends credit facility covenants

New York, Dec. 31 - Allbritton Communications Co. amended its credit facility to ease some of the covenants for the next fiscal year.

The Washington, D.C. television company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission it made the amendments effective Dec. 19. It added that it was in compliance with covenants at the end of its last quarter on Sept. 30.

"Management believes that the amendment allows the company sufficient operational flexibility to remain in compliance with the financial covenants," the company said in the SEC filing.

Covenants relaxed by the amendment are:

--Consolidated EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization) to consolidated total interest is relaxed to a requirement of at least 1.5:1 until Sept. 30, 2002, down from 1.75:1 previously. The covenant then reverts to the previous minimum of 1.75:1 until Dec. 31, 2003 and 1.9:1 after that.

--Total leverage ratio is eased to a maximum of 7.00:1 from closing to Dec. 31, 2001 and 6.75 until Sept. 30, 2002. It then reverts to the previous requirement of 5.75:1 until Sept. 30, 2003, 5.50:1 until Sept. 30, 2004, 5.25:1 until Sept. 30, 2005 and 5.00:1 after that. This ratio is also measured at the end of each quarter and covers the four quarters ending at that time.

Covenants for senior leverage ratio and fixed charge ratio remain unchanged at 1.00:1.00 and 1.15:1.00 respectively.

At Sept. 30, Allbritton said it had no borrowings on the facility, which is a $50 million revolver maturing March 27, 2006. The facility, which dates from March 27, 2001, is secured by a pledge of the stock of the company and its subsidiaries and carries interest rates of prime plus 25 basis points to Libor plus 150 basis points, depending on financial tests, and a commitment fee on the unused portion of 50 to 75 basis points.

The facility is with Fleet National Bank as agent and Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown Inc. as documentation agent.

Allbritton paid an amendment fee of 12.5 basis points.

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