West Corp (WSTC) Divestiture of Agent Services Call Transcript

Gary Bisbee, RBC Capital Markets
Okay, great. Then a followup, I appreciate the comments on how you will be thoughtful around use of proceeds here. At the time of the IPO, there was much more of a thought process around bringing leverage down. It has come up and I understand the positive transactions you have done that have resulted in that. How should we think about it over the next three to four years? Are you still thinking that three to four times is the right number? Clearly, you are above that now or should we think it is five times as a number you are very comfortable with in terms of the leverage?

Tom Barker, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, West Corporation
Well, there are two elements to that. One, what are we comfortable with? This is a business that requires very little as a percentage revenue for CAPEX. Has really attractive margins overtime. I think those margins should go up given these divestitures. The leverage ratio that we have right now is one that does not impact our ability to grow and manage this business. That being said, would West be considered to be more valuable if they had less leverage? Probably and that is something we were going to look at.

We go to a period of time when acquisitions present themselves so we can create a lot of value, like we did in 2014. You can look at 2013 when we really did not complete any acquisitions. Not because we did not want to, we just did not think we could drive the value that we would like to see. Overtime, I expect the company to continue to grow. I expect it to grow faster. I expect it to be more profitable, and I expect leverage to come down.

Gary Bisbee, RBC Capital Markets
Okay. Then just one last clean up one, the D&A of 24 million in the chart in the press release, is there a way you could give us the breakdown between D&A? I’m just trying to think through your definition adjusted earnings impact to it. Thanks.

Tom Barker, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, West Corporation
I am not sure we have that right now, Gary, but you know what? We can give you a holler back

Gary Bisbee, RBC Capital Markets
Okay, thank you.

Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Bill Warmington with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

William Warmington, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
Happy New Year.

Tom Barker, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, West Corporation
Good morning, Bill.

William Warmington, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
Good morning. One question for you on communication services. What is the organic growth rate of that going forward? How should we think about that? You have got a number of…

Tom Barker, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, West Corporation
Yes. When I give our guidance for 2015,Bill, we will tell you how we expect our companies to grow where the growth is coming from and what part is going to be organic and what part comes from acquisitions.

William Warmington, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
Got it. Okay. How should we think about those 13 million in estimated costs in terms of what is in it and how you are going to eliminate it or should we expect you to eliminate all of it or not?

Tom Barker, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, West Corporation
I do not think we can eliminate all of it. I am in there and always [crosstalk 00:14:23] balance in leadership team so it does not all go away, but part of it has to do with when can we start to address it? As part of this sale, we are committed to providing services and a smooth transition. These employees and these client relationships are very, very important for us. We are taking on a transition process so we will not be able to address many of those cross for some time. When I give our guidance for 2015, I am going to try to do a decent job of saying, “This is the part we think we can address in 2015. And this is when we would expect that impact to be felt by quarter throughout the year.”