Equinix Reports Fourth Quarter and Year End 2010 Results

• Reported 2010 annual revenues of $1,220.3 million, a 38% increase over the previous year
• Reported 2010 annual adjusted EBITDA of $544.8 million, a 33% increase over the previous year
• Reiterated 2011 annual guidance of revenues to be greater than $1,500.0 million and adjusted EBITDA to be greater than $675.0 million
• Download Q4 2010 Financial Statements

REDWOOD CITY, CA — February 9, 2011 — Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX, news, filings), a provider of global data center services, today reported quarterly and year-end results for the period ended December 31, 2010.

Revenues were $345.2 million for the fourth quarter, a 5% increase over the previous quarter and 42% over the same quarter last year.  Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2010, were $1,220.3 million, a 38% increase over 2009 revenues.  This result included $57.9 million in revenues from Switch and Data for the quarter and $153.0 million in revenues from Switch and Data for the year ended December 31, 2010.  Recurring revenues, consisting primarily of colocation, interconnection and managed services were $326.3 million for the fourth quarter, a 4% increase over the previous quarter and $1,160.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, a 38% increase over 2009.  Non-recurring revenues were $18.9 million in the quarter and $59.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2010.

“Equinix delivered strong financial results in 2010, surpassing $1 billion in annual revenues and expanding our global reach to 11 countries and 35 global markets,” said Steve Smith, CEO and President of Equinix. “With our focus on ecosystems, critical mass of customers, operational reliability and global footprint, Equinix is uniquely positioned to capture the strong demand for our services in 2011.”

Cost of revenues were $193.6 million for the fourth quarter, a 4% increase from the previous quarter, and $674.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, a 40% increase over 2009.    Cost of revenues, excluding depreciation, amortization, accretion and stock-based compensation of $68.1 million for the fourth quarter and $243.7 million for the year, were $125.5 million for the fourth quarter, a 8% increase over the previous quarter, and $431.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, a 37% increase over 2009.   Cash gross margins, defined as gross profit before depreciation, amortization, accretion and stock-based compensation, divided by revenues, for the quarter were 64%, down from 65% for both the previous quarter and the same quarter last year.  Cash gross margins were 65% for the full year of 2010, up from 64% for the prior year.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $96.3 million for the fourth quarter, a 7% increase over the previous quarter and $331.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, a 52% increase over 2009.  Selling, general and administrative expenses, excluding depreciation, amortization and stock-based compensation of $25.5 million for the fourth quarter and $87.4 million for the year, were $70.8 million for the fourth quarter, a 5% increase over the previous quarter, and $244.5 million for 2010, a 53% increase over 2009.

Restructuring charges were $0.5 million for the fourth quarter and $6.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, which were primarily related to both Switch and Data and an excess space lease in the New York metro area.  Acquisition costs were $0.4 million for the fourth quarter and $12.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, which were primarily related to Switch and Data.

Interest expense was $38.8 million for the fourth quarter, flat over last quarter, and $140.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, an 89% increase over 2009.  The Company recorded a loss on debt extinguishment of $5.4 million for the fourth quarter and a loss on debt extinguishment and interest rate swaps, net, of $10.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2010.  The Company had no such debt extinguishment activity during 2009.  The Company recorded an income tax benefit of $2.8 million for the fourth quarter as compared to income tax expense of $4.6 million in the prior quarter and income tax expense of $13.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2010 as compared to income tax expense of $39.6 million in the prior year.

Net income for the fourth quarter was $13.8 million.  This represents a basic net income per share of $0.30 and diluted net income per share of $0.29 based on a weighted average share count of 46.1 million and 46.9 million, respectively, for the fourth quarter of 2010.  Net income for the year ended December 31, 2010 was $36.9 million.  This represents a basic net income per share of $0.84 and diluted net income per share of $0.82 based on a weighted share count of 43.7 million and 44.8 million, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2010.

Adjusted EBITDA, defined as income or loss from operations before depreciation, amortization, accretion, stock-based compensation, restructuring charges and acquisition costs for the fourth quarter was $148.9 million, an increase of 2% over the previous quarter and $544.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, a 33% increase over 2009.

Capital expenditures, defined as gross capital expenditures less the net change in accrued property, plant and equipment in the fourth quarter were $143.4 million, of which $111.0 million was attributed to expansion capital expenditures and $32.4 million was attributed to ongoing capital expenditures.  In addition, the Company purchased two buildings in Amsterdam for cash in December 2010 totaling $14.9 million.  Capital expenditures for the year ended December 31, 2010 were $579.4 million, of which $464.8 million was attributed to expansion capital expenditures and $114.6 million was attributed to ongoing capital expenditures.

The Company generated cash from operating activities of $122.9 million for the fourth quarter as compared to $113.3 million in the previous quarter.  Cash generated from operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2010 was $392.9 million as compared to $355.5 million in the previous year.  Cash provided by investing activities was $17.5 million in the fourth quarter as compared to cash used in investing activities of $259.5 million in the previous quarter.  Cash used in investing activities for the year was $601.0 million as compared to $558.2 million in the previous year.  Cash used in financing activities was $86.0 million for the fourth quarter, which was primarily related to the repayment of the Ashburn mortgage, and cash provided by financing activities was $309.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2010.

As of December 31, 2010, the Company’s cash, cash equivalents and investments were $592.8 million, as compared to $604.4 million as of December 31, 2009.

Company Metrics and Q4 Results Presentation

• A presentation to accompany Equinix’s Q4 Results conference call, as well as the Company’s Non-Financial Metrics tracking sheet, will be available on the Investors section of Equinix’s web site at www.equinix.com/investors

Business Outlook

For the first quarter of 2011, the Company expects revenues to be in the range of $354.0 to $356.0 million.  Cash gross margins are expected to be approximately 64%.  Cash selling, general and administrative expenses are expected to be approximately $75.0 million.  Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $151.0 and $153.0 million.  Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $185.0 million, comprised of approximately $25.0 million of ongoing capital expenditures and $160.0 million of expansion capital expenditures.

For the full year of 2011, total revenues are expected to be greater than $1,500.0 million.  Total year cash gross margins are expected to be 65%.  Cash selling, general and administrative expenses are expected to be approximately $300.0 million.  Adjusted EBITDA for the year is expected to be greater than $675.0 million.  Capital expenditures for 2011 are expected to be in the range of $400.0 and $500.0 million, comprised of approximately $100.0 million of ongoing capital expenditures and $300.0 to $400.0 million for expansion capital expenditures.

The Company will discuss its results and guidance on its quarterly conference call on Wednesday, February 9, 2011, at 5:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. PT).  A presentation to accompany the call will be available on the Company’s website at www.equinix.com/investors.  To hear the conference call live, please dial 210-234-8004 (domestic and international) and reference the passcode (EQIX).  A simultaneous live Webcast of the call will also be available at www.equinix.com/investors.

A replay of the call will be available beginning on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. (ET) through March 10, 2011 by dialing 203-369-1420 and referencing the passcode (2011).  In addition, the webcast will be available on the Company’s web site at www.equinix.com/investors.  No password is required for the webcast.

About Equinix

Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) connects businesses with partners and customers around the world through a global platform of high performance data centers, containing dynamic ecosystems and the broadest choice of networks. More than 3,100 enterprises, cloud, digital content and financial companies connect to more than 625 network service providers and rely on Platform Equinix to grow their business, improve application performance and protect their vital digital assets. Equinix operates in 35 strategic markets across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific and continually invests in expanding its platform to power customer growth.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Equinix provides all information required in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), but it believes that evaluating its ongoing operating results may be difficult if limited to reviewing only GAAP financial measures.  Accordingly, Equinix uses non-GAAP financial measures, such as adjusted EBITDA, cash cost of revenues, cash gross margins, cash operating expenses (also known as cash selling, general and administrative expenses or cash SG&A), adjusted EBITDA margins, free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow to evaluate its operations.  In presenting these non-GAAP financial measures, Equinix excludes certain items that it believes are not good indicators of the Company’s current or future operating performance.  These items are depreciation, amortization, accretion of asset retirement obligations and accrued restructuring charges, stock-based compensation, restructuring charges and acquisition costs. Legislative and regulatory requirements encourage use of and emphasis on GAAP financial metrics and require companies to explain why non-GAAP financial metrics are relevant to management and investors.  Equinix excludes these items in order for Equinix’s lenders, investors, and industry analysts who review and report on the Company, to better evaluate the Company’s operating performance and cash spending levels relative to its industry sector and competitors.

Equinix excludes depreciation expense as these charges primarily relate to the initial construction costs of our IBX centers and do not reflect our current or future cash spending levels to support our business.  Our IBX centers are long-lived assets, and have an economic life greater than 10 years. The construction costs of our IBX centers do not recur and future capital expenditures remain minor relative to our initial investment.  This is a trend we expect to continue.  In addition, depreciation is also based on the estimated useful lives of our IBX centers.  These estimates could vary from actual performance of the asset, are based on historic costs incurred to build out our IBX centers, and are not indicative of current or expected future capital expenditures.  Therefore, Equinix excludes depreciation from its operating results when evaluating its operations.

In addition, in presenting the non-GAAP financial measures, Equinix excludes amortization expense related to certain intangible assets, as it represents a cost that may not recur and is not a good indicator of the Company’s current or future operating performance.  Equinix excludes accretion expense, both as it relates to its asset retirement obligations as well as its accrued restructuring charges, as these expenses represent costs which Equinix believes are not meaningful in evaluating the Company’s current operations.  Equinix excludes non-cash stock-based compensation expense as it represents expense attributed to equity awards that have no current or future cash obligations.  As such, we, and many investors and analysts, exclude this stock-based compensation expense when assessing the cash generating performance of our operations.  Equinix excludes restructuring charges from its non-GAAP financial measures.  The restructuring charges relate to the Company’s decision to exit leases for excess space adjacent to several of our IBX centers, which we did not intend to build out, or our decision to reverse such restructuring charges or severance charges related to the Switch and Data acquisition.  Equinix excludes acquisition costs from its non-GAAP financial measures.  The acquisition costs relate to costs the Company incurs in connection with business combinations.  Management believes such items as restructuring charges and acquisition costs are non-core transactions; however, these types of costs will or may occur in future periods.

Our management does not itself, nor does it suggest that investors should, consider such non-GAAP financial measures in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP.  However, we have presented such non-GAAP financial measures to provide investors with an additional tool to evaluate our operating results in a manner that focuses on what management believes to be our core, ongoing business operations.  Management believes that the inclusion of these non-GAAP financial measures provides consistency and comparability with past reports and provides a better understanding of the overall performance of the business and its ability to perform in subsequent periods. Equinix believes that if it did not provide such non-GAAP financial information, investors would not have all the necessary data to analyze Equinix effectively.

Investors should note, however, that the non-GAAP financial measures used by Equinix may not be the same non-GAAP financial measures, and may not be calculated in the same manner, as that of other companies.  In addition, whenever Equinix uses such non-GAAP financial measures, it provides a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most closely applicable GAAP financial measure.  Investors are encouraged to review the related GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

Equinix does not provide forward-looking guidance for certain financial data, such as depreciation, amortization, accretion, stock-based compensation, net income (loss) from operations, cash generated from operating activities and cash used in investing activities, and as a result, is not able to provide a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures for forward-looking data.  Equinix intends to calculate the various non-GAAP financial measures in future periods consistent with how it was calculated for the periods presented within this press release.

Download Q4 2010 Financial Statements

---

Press Contacts

PR Archives: Latest, By Company, By Date