Adelphia Says ’03 Loss Smaller

Adelphia Communications Corp., which filed for Bankruptcy Court protection in June 2002, restated financial results for three years and said its loss narrowed to $832.6 million last year, according to a regulatory filing Thursday.

The company’s 2003 net loss shrank to $3.31 a share, from $7.19 billion, or $28.87 a share, a year earlier, Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Adelphia said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its sales increased to $3.61 billion from $3.27 billion the previous year.

Chief Executive William Schleyer had to issue the restated financial results before he could take the firm out of bankruptcy or sell its assets. Schleyer, who was hired in 2003 after members of the founding Rigas family were ousted, said in a statement that it took a “20-month effort” to put out the restated results.

Shares of Adelphia rose 7 cents to 32 cents in over-the-counter trading. They had traded as high as $32.66 in the six months before Adelphia filed for bankruptcy protection.

John Rigas, 80, and his son Timothy J. Rigas, 48, were convicted in July of conspiracy and fraud for looting $3.2 billion from Adelphia and lying about its finances prior to its 2002 bankruptcy filing. Another of John Rigas’ sons, Michael J. Rigas, 51, faces retrial after a jury deadlocked on charges against him.

The Rigases are defendants in suits connected to the collapse of Adelphia, including a $3.2-billion suit filed by the company.

Also on Thursday, John Rigas and his sons asked a judge to dismiss a suit alleging they misused firm funds, saying there was no evidence they used the money.

Century/ML Cable Corp., a unit of Adelphia, contends the Rigases overcharged it for management fees and other services. The Rigases used the inflated fees to meet margin calls on loans secured with Adelphia stock, Century/ML said in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.