Moody’s Upgrades Cable Company

Moody’s has upgraded the ratings of Brazilian cable company Net Servicos de Comunicacao to Ba1 (stable) from Ba2 to reflect resilience to the economic downturn. Senior analyst Soummo Mukherjee says the company has shown “continued strong growth in its subscriber base with no material increase in subscriber churn or delinquency, while maintaining low leverage and improved interest coverage that compare favorably to global industry peers and similarly rated LatAm corporates.” As of June 30, the analyst says, Net reported total cash and cash equivalents of BRL537m. That and expected cash generation should allow Net to comfortably address working capital and capex needs, interest and tax payments, as well as debt maturities that consist of BRL68m in the next 12 months and BRL250m in 2010, says Moody’s.