Altice bonds drop after earnings post; Telesat trades lower; Logan declines; Agile up

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Feb. 17 – Bonds in the communications space declined on Thursday with the overall financial markets soft on growing emerging markets concerns of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Altice USA, Inc.’s bonds traded about 1 3/8 points to over 2¼ points weaker following the company’s earnings release the prior day.

Telesat Corp.’s notes fell about ½ point to 1½ points on Thursday with the secured issue trading down 5¼ points this week.

The telecom space was among a handful of sectors including utilities that were forecast by market participants to make up the bulk of restructurings in 2022.

Volatility was stronger over the day, and stock indices slid with the Dow Jones industrial average off 1.78% and the Nasdaq down 2.88%.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange’s CBOE Volatility index climbed over 15% to 28.07 by late afternoon.

The iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF closed down 35 cents at $82.77.

Oil prices declined.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil benchmark futures for March deliveries settled down $1.90 to $91.76 a barrel.

Bonds were mixed in China’s distressed property developer space.

Logan Group Co. Ltd.’s 4.85% senior notes due 2026 (B+) dropped 2½ points following the company’s third downgrade this month.

Agile Group Holdings Ltd.’s 6.7% senior notes due March 7, 2022 (B2/B) improved over 1 point during the session.

Altice notes down

The 4 5/8% notes due 2030 (B3/B+) issued by Altice USA subsidiary CSC Holdings, LLC were among the company’s most active bonds on Thursday with $38.79 million of bonds traded down over 2¼ points to 84 bid, a source said.

CSC Holdings’ 5¾% notes due 2030 (B3/B+) also were off 1½ points to 89¾ bid on $8.5 million of secondary volume Thursday.

Altice USA reported fourth-quarter and 2021 profit results on Wednesday and said quarterly revenue declined 0.6% to $2.52 billion, while earnings fell to $251.7 million from $330.5 million in the year-ago period.

The Long Island City, N.Y.-based broadband communications and video services company also announced the acceleration of its fiber deployment strategy over the next four years for its Optimum and Suddenlink brands.

Telesat trades lower

Telesat Canada’s 4 7/8% senior secured notes due 2027 (B1/BB-) declined 1½ points to 73¾ bid after softening ¾ point in the prior session, a market source said.

The notes are down 5¼ points so far this week.

Telesat Canada’s 6½% senior notes due 2027 (Caa1/B) softened about ½ point to the 56 bid area after dipping 1 point on Wednesday.

The unsecured notes have declined about 3 points since the prior week.

The Ottawa-based satellite communications company announced in November that subsidiaries Telesat Canada and Loral Space & Communications Inc. completed a merger with the company now publicly traded on the Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker “TSAT.”

Telesat’s shares declined 6.19% on Thursday to $21.51 after shedding 1.38% on Wednesday.

Logan issue declines

Logan Group’s 4.85% senior notes due 2026 (B+) dropped 2½ points to 85 bid in thin trading on Thursday, a source said.

S&P Global Ratings downgraded Logan during the session after the company confirmed $1 billion of previously unreported guaranteed private notes.

The company also was downgraded by Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings this month.

The Shenzhen, China-based property developer has $300 million of 7½% offshore bonds that are due on Aug. 25, 2022.

Agile notes better

Meanwhile, Agile Group’s 6.7% senior notes due March 7, 2022 (B2/B) rallied over 1¼ points to 93 3/8 bid on light volume totaling $2 million, a source said.

The Guangzhou, China-based property developer’s issue has softened about 1 point on the week but remains stronger from where it traded at the 58 bid area in early January.

Distressed index soft

The S&P U.S. High Yield Corporate Distressed Bond index’s one-day total return declined to minus 0.28% on Wednesday, compared to 0.39% on Tuesday and minus 0.43% on Monday.

Month-to-date total returns were at minus 0.94% in the prior session, versus minus 0.67% on Tuesday and minus 1.06% at the week’s start.

Year-to-date returns posted at minus 2.46% on Wednesday, minus 2.19% on Tuesday and minus 2.57% on Monday.

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