OREANDA-NEWS. S&P Global Ratings today said it lowered its corporate credit rating on St. Louis, Mo.-based Answers Corp. to 'CCC' from 'CCC+'. The outlook is negative.

At the same time, we lowered our issue-level ratings on the company's $40 million revolver due 2019 and $325 million first-lien term loan due 2021 to 'CCC' from 'CCC+'. The '3' recovery rating on this facility indicates our expectation for meaningful (50% to 70%; at the lower end of the range) recovery in the event of a payment default. We also lowered our issue-level rating on the company's $180 million second-lien term loan due 2022 to 'CC' from 'CCC-'. The '6' recovery rating on this facility indicates our expectation for negligible (0% to 10%) recovery in the event of default.

"The downgrade reflects our expectation of worsening credit metrics through the end of 2016, primarily because of weakness in the company's promoted content business, Answers. com," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Kenneth Fleming.

Answers Corp. operates in two business lines: Answer Cloud Services (ACS), which was built through a number of acquisitions over the past four years and offers content management and data analytic services for brands and online retailers; and Answers. com, which generates revenue through advertising.

The negative outlook reflects continued declines in the Answers. com business, which will continue to pressure EBITDA and result in liquidity concerns such that the likelihood of default is increased over the coming year.

We could lower the rating if continued deterioration in the business leads us to determine that a default within six months is inevitable or if the company defaults on its debt obligations.

We could raise the rating if the company can improve its liquidity position through an additional equity investment, a meaningful improvement in operations and cash flow, or keeping the cushion on the springing revolver test above 10%.