Equinix Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2011 Results

• Reported 2011 annual revenues of $1,606.8 million, a 32% increase over the previous year 
• Reported 2011 annual adjusted EBITDA of $738.4 million, a 36% increase over the previous year
• Repurchased 0.9 million shares in the fourth quarter at an average price of $99.57 per share
• Reiterated 2012 annual guidance of revenues to be greater than $1,870.0 million and adjusted EBITDA to be greater than $850.0 million    

REDWOOD CITY, CA — February 15, 2012 — Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), a provider of global data center services, today reported quarterly and year-end results for the period ended December 31, 2011.

Revenues were $431.3 million for the fourth quarter, a 3% increase over the previous quarter and a 25% increase over the same quarter last year.  Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2011, were $1,606.8 million, a 32% increase over 2010 revenues.  This result included $17.3 million in revenues from ALOG for the quarter and $46.9 million in revenues from ALOG for the year ended December 31, 2011.  Recurring revenues, consisting primarily of colocation, interconnection and managed services, were $410.7 million for the fourth quarter, a 3% increase over the previous quarter and $1,528.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2011, a 32% increase over 2010.  Non-recurring revenues were $20.6 million in the quarter and $78.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2011.

“2011 was a pivotal year for Equinix,” said Steve Smith, president and CEO of Equinix. “We continue to extend our competitive advantage through our global platform and the strength of our ecosystems, evidenced by growth in customers expanding their geographic footprint and deploying new infrastructure applications.”

Cost of revenues were $229.3 million for the fourth quarter, a 1% increase from the previous quarter, and $867.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2011, a 29% increase over 2010.    Cost of revenues, excluding depreciation, amortization, accretion and stock-based compensation of $85.8 million for the fourth quarter and $319.3 million for the year, were $143.5 million for the fourth quarter, a 1% decrease over the previous quarter, and $548.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2011, a 27% increase over 2010.   Cash gross margins, defined as gross profit before depreciation, amortization, accretion and stock-based compensation, divided by revenues, for the quarter, were 67%, up from 65% for the previous quarter and up from 64% for the same quarter last year.  Cash gross margins were 66% for the full year of 2011, up from 65% for the prior year.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $117.0 million for the fourth quarter, a 7% increase over the previous quarter and $425.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2011, a 28% increase over 2010.  Selling, general and administrative expenses, excluding depreciation, amortization and stock-based compensation of $27.3 million for the fourth quarter and $104.8 million for the year, were $89.7 million for the fourth quarter, a 10% increase over the previous quarter, and $320.2 million for 2011, a 31% increase over 2010.

Restructuring charges were $1.3 million for the fourth quarter and $3.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2011, which were primarily related to an excess space lease in the New York metro area.  Acquisition costs were $0.8 million for the fourth quarter and $3.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2011, which were primarily related to the ALOG acquisition.

Interest expense was $55.2 million for the fourth quarter, an 8% increase over the last quarter, and $181.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2011, a 29% increase over 2010.  The Company recorded a loss on debt extinguishment of $5.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2010 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 debt extinguishment activity for the year ended December 31, 2011.  The Company recorded an income tax expense of $13.8 million for the fourth quarter as compared to income tax expense of $5.3 million in the prior quarter and income tax expense of $38.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2011 as compared to income tax expense of $13.0 million in the prior year.

Net income attributable to Equinix for the fourth quarter was $17.8 million.  This represents a basic net income per share attributable to Equinix of $0.36 and diluted net income per share attributable to Equinix of $0.35 based on a weighted average share count of 47.2 million and 48.1 million, respectively, for the fourth quarter of 2011.  Net income attributable to Equinix for the year ended December 31, 2011 was $94.0 million.  This represents a basic net income per share attributable to Equinix of $1.76 and diluted net income per share attributable to Equinix of $1.72 based on a weighted share count of 47.0 million and 47.9 million, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2011.

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 $198.1 million, an increase of 3% over the previous quarter and $738.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2011, a 36% increase over 2010.

“Demand for data center services is strong, supply and demand dynamics are favorable and pricing remains firm.  This gives us confidence to continue investing in our business to capitalize on our long term growth opportunity and drive strong future returns for shareholders,” concluded Smith.

Capital expenditures, defined as gross capital expenditures less the net change in accrued property, plant and equipment in the fourth quarter were $189.8 million, of which $145.5 million was attributed to expansion capital expenditures and $44.3 million was attributed to ongoing capital expenditures.  Capital expenditures for the year ended December 31, 2011 were $685.3 million, of which $557.6 million was attributed to expansion capital expenditures and $127.7 million was attributed to ongoing capital expenditures.  In addition, the Company purchased real estate in Paris and Frankfurt for cash in the year ended December 31, 2011 totaling $28.1 million.

The Company repurchased 0.9 million shares of its common stock under the share repurchase program in the fourth quarter for an average price of $99.57 per share for total consideration of $86.7 million.

The Company generated cash from operating activities of $187.3 million for the fourth quarter as compared to $141.9 million in the previous quarter.  Cash generated from operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2011 was $587.3 million as compared to $392.9 million in the previous year.  Cash used in investing activities was $194.3 million in the fourth quarter as compared to cash used in investing activities of $808.7 million in the previous quarter.  Cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2011 was $1,499.1 million as compared to $601.0 million in the previous year.  Cash used in financing activities was $83.4 million for the fourth quarter, which was primarily related to share repurchases that were settled during the quarter, and cash provided by financing activities was $748.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2011.

As of December 31, 2011, the Company’s cash, cash equivalents and investments were $1,076.3 million, as compared to $592.8 million as of December 31, 2010.

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 2012, the Company expects revenues to be in the range of $443.0 to $446.0 million.  Cash gross margins are expected to range between 66% and 67%.  Cash selling, general and administrative expenses are expected to range between $90.0 and $95.0 million.  Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $200.0 and $205.0 million.  Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $180.0 to $200.0 million, comprised of approximately $30.0 million of ongoing capital expenditures and $150.0 to $170.0 million of expansion capital expenditures.

For the full year of 2012, total revenues are expected to be greater than $1,870.0 million.  Total year cash gross margins are expected to approximate 66%.  Cash selling, general and administrative expenses are expected to range between $370.0 and $400.0 million.  Adjusted EBITDA for the year is expected to be greater than $850.0 million.  Capital expenditures for 2012 are expected to be in the range of $700.0 and $800.0 million, comprised of approximately $135.0 million of ongoing capital expenditures and $565.0 to $665.0 million for expansion capital expenditures.

The Company will discuss its results and guidance on its quarterly conference call on Wednesday, February 15, 2012, 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 atwww.equinix.com/investors.

A replay of the call will be available beginning on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. (ET) through March 15, 2012 by dialing 402-998-1353 and referencing the passcode (2012).  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. Platform Equinix connects more than 4,000 enterprises, cloud, digital content and financial companies including more than 690 network service providers to help them grow their businesses, improve application performance and protect their vital digital assets. Equinix operates in 38 strategic markets across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific and continually invests in expanding its platform to power customer growth. http://www.equinix.com

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 stock-based compensation expense as it primarily 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 they were calculated for the periods presented within this press release.

Equinix Investor Relations:
Equinix, Inc.
Katrina Rymill, 650-598-6583
krymill@equinix.com
Jason Starr, 650-598-6020
jstarr@equinix.com
or
Equinix Media:
LEWIS PR
Scott Blevins, 415-992-4400
equinixlewisus@equinix.com
or
Equinix, Inc.
Melissa Neumann, 650-598-6098
mneumann@equinix.com

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