2024-08-08 22:19:14
Quebec has managed to maintain its position in a competitive wireless market, with subscriber growth exceeding expectations between April and June.
The Quebec telecom giant reported that it had opened 93,500 new mobile lines in the three months of the second quarter of this year, ending June 30. That’s 44,000 more lines than in the same period last year.
“It was an excellent performance outside of seasonality, with a more active September last year,” Pierre-Karl Péladeau, the company’s president and CEO, commented on a conference call with financial analysts on Thursday.
Desjardins Securities analyst Jérôme Dubreuil said the company’s announcement of net new routes exceeded consensus estimates of 72,800 new routes.
Wireless revenues increased 3% to $558 million in the second quarter, while Quebec’s telecommunications industry as a whole saw a decline (-1.2%) to $1.19 billion.
Mr. Dubreuil noted in a note to investors that the Quebec company was “second in the industry in wireless service revenue growth” in the second quarter, behind Rogers.
Since its subsidiary Videotron acquired Freedom in April 2023, Quebecor has been expanding in other parts of Canada.
Fizz, a Quebec-based discount mobile operator, established its presence in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia this spring.
Service expansion in these provinces has been possible thanks to the CRTC’s policy on mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which allows regional providers to use networks built by their larger competitors.
Mr. Péladeau welcomed the impact that Freedom purchases will have on the cellphone bills of many Canadians.
“We have reignited competition and lowered the price of wireless service by offering affordable mobile plans and improving the customer experience,” he said.
TVA Group restructuring continues
While the media division continued to “feel the impact of lower advertising revenues,” its revenue grew, from $180.3 million last year to $184.4 million in the second quarter of this year.
The increase was partly due to a royalty agreement with the specialist channel LCN, as well as growth in film and audiovisual services, both factors also reflected in the TVA Group’s results last week.
Mr. Péladeau said the restructuring plan announced last fall, which includes the layoffs of 547 employees, or 31% of the workforce, is progressing “quite quickly” within TVA.
Revenues for the entire province of Quebec fell 0.8% to $1.39 billion in the second quarter.
But the company’s adjusted earnings from operating activities rose 12.5%. Its stock price was $205.1 million, or $0.89 per basic share.
Before the results were released, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.83 per share, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.
For its part, net income to shareholders was $207.6 million, or 90 cents per share, compared with $174.1 million, or 75 cents per share, in the second quarter of fiscal 2023.
The company said the 19.2 percent rise in profit attributable to shareholders was due to higher adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), lower depreciation expense and lower restructuring charges and acquisition costs.
Quebec also said it would pay a quarterly dividend of 32.5 cents per share on Sept. 17.
Watch via video
1723158718
#Quebec #profits #rise #quarter
