A Crown Castle International shareholder has filed a class action complaint against the Company alleging violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 between Feb. 26, 2018 and Feb. 26, 2020.
On Feb. 26, 2020, Crown Castle announced that its historical accounting practice with respect to recognizing servicing revenues from its tower installation services “was not acceptable under GAAP.” The comm-infra company plans to restate its financial statements for the years ended Dec. 31, 2018 and 2017 and for the first three quarters in the year ended Dec. 31, 2019.
According to the complaint, beginning in first quarter 2019, Crown Castle reported successive increases in its quarterly net income and increases in adjusted EBITDA, citing “net growth in [its] Towers and Fiber segments.” However, on Feb. 26, 2020, Crown Castle revealed that “after consultation with the [SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant], we concluded that our historical practice [for recognizing services revenues] was not acceptable under [Generally Accepted Accounting Principles],” according to Robbins, a shareholder rights law firm.