Q3 Revenue Of Wiz Drops 3% Due To Sept. 11

Bethpage, N.Y.— Cablevision Systems' consumer electronics retailer, The Wiz, reported net revenue of $153.9 million in the third quarter, down 2.9 percent from the $158.4 million registered in the same quarter in 2000. This was due primarily to the closing of six The Wiz retail locations in Manhattan for several days following the events of Sept. 11.

For the nine months, The Wiz reported net revenue of $461 million, 5.3 percent better than the $437.8 million recorded in the same period in 2000.

Cablevision said The Wiz reported a deficit of $16.9 million in its adjusted operating cash flow (AOCF), or operating profit before depreciation and amortization, in the third quarter. Yet, this was a 6.3 percent improvement over the $18 million deficit registered in the prior year's third quarter.

For the nine months, the AOCF deficit at The Wiz was $49.1 million, 1.4 percent better than the $49.8 percent deficit recorded in the year-earlier nine-month period.

Cablevision NY Group, which includes The Wiz and the Optimum Online high-speed data service that is marketed and sold in The Wiz stores, recorded a net loss of $81.2 million in the third quarter, up from $40.9 million in the same three months in 2000.

Third-quarter net revenue climbed 4.5 percent, to $864.4 million, from a pro forma $827 million in the same quarter last year.

For the nine months, the Cablevision NY Group reported net income of $933.9 million, compared with a loss of $341 million in the same period in 2000. Net revenue moved up 5.3 percent, to $2.7 billion, compared with a pro forma $2.6 billion in the year-ago nine months.

Optimum Online registered net revenue of $36.1 million in the third quarter ending Sept. 30, a 22 percent quarter-to-quarter increase. The high-speed data segment did $9.3 million in net revenue in the third quarter of 2000.

Third-quarter AOCF for Optimum Online reached $2.5 million, the first full quarter Optimum has generated positive AOCF, said Cablevision. In the prior year period, Optimum recorded an AOCF deficit of $14.8 million.

For the nine months, Optimum Online reduced its AOCF deficit from $35 million to $22.2 million.