Crown Castle Delays '04 Earnings On Lease-Acctg Change

HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--Crown Castle International Corp. (CCI) postponed its 2004 earnings release because of a lease accounting-related restatement in prior years.

The earnings release and conference call was originally slated for next Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

In a press release Friday, the provider of wireless infrastructure, said its auditor needs more time to complete the previously announcement restatement of the results.

On Feb. 15, the company said it would change its method of accounting tenant leases, ground leases and depreciation in response to new guidelines issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In other matters, Crown Castle said it reported better-than-expected site leasing activity and said site leasing activity rose 40% in 2004 from 2003.

The company said it expects to complete and file its fourth-quarter and fiscal-2004 results by March 31. Castle Crown Chief Executive John Kelly plans to speak at the Raymond James Institutional Investors conference Monday at 2:15 p.m. EST.

-Karen M. Lee; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 4th March 2005