Quebecor reported their third quarter earnings for 2012 this morning and its bad news for about 500 employees of Sun Media as they have announced massive job elimination, and said it will close two publishing facilities in Ottawa and Kingston. Sun Media (a division of Quebecor) is expected to save more than C$45 million per year as a result of the restructuring. Quebecor reported a 30 percent rise in adjusted third-quarter profit on strong sales in its telecommunications business.
“The Corporation continued its growth in the third quarter of 2012 despite a fiercely competitive business environment in most of its lines of business,” said Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Quebecor. “It increased its revenues by 4.4%, its operating income by 10.4% and its adjusted income from continuing operations by 30.2%, confirming the profitability of the major investments made in recent years.”
It should not come as a surprise, but their telecoms business, which contributes over half of Quebecor’s total revenue, has been helped to drive growth in the last few quarters. Revenue at the business rose 8 percent to C$659.2 million.
“We are very satisfied with the growth recorded by Videotron in the third quarter of 2012,” said Robert Dépatie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Videotron. “Revenues from Videotron’s main services were all up substantially, enhancing the Telecommunications segment’s operating income by $34.5 million, a significant 12.5% increase. Videotron recorded a net increase of 101,100 revenue generating units and a 7.7% increase in average monthly revenue per user compared with the same period of the previous year. It is noteworthy that the cable television subscriber losses recorded in the second quarter of 2012, during the moving season, were almost entirely made up in the third quarter of 2012. In the 12-month period ended September 30, 2012, the total number of revenue generating units increased by 264,600 (5.8%). Subscriber additions to the mobile network since its launch have contributed to customer growth and increase in profitability. Videotron stands out among Canada’s major telecommunications carriers with the highest quarterly growth rate in operating income.”
Adjusted income from continuing operations rose to C$52.1 million, or 83 Canadian cents per basic share, from C$40 million, or 63 Canadian cents per basic share, a year earlier.
The company took a C$187 million charge for impairment of goodwill. It also reported a gain of C$117.7 million on the valuation of financial instruments.
Total revenue rose 4 percent to C$1.06 billion.
