MONTRÉAL, July 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Cogeco Inc. (TSX: CGO) (“Cogeco” or the “Corporation”) announced its financial results for the third quarter ended May 31, 2018, in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”).
For the third quarter of fiscal 2018:
(1) The indicated terms do not have standardized definitions prescribed by IFRS and, therefore, may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. For more details, please consult the “Non-IFRS financial measures” section of the MD&A.
For the nine-month period ended May 31, 2018:
“Overall we are satisfied with our performance for the third quarter of fiscal 2018,” declared Louis Audet, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cogeco Inc. “At Cogeco Communications, results for our Canadian broadband services subsidiary, Cogeco Connexion, have remained stable compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2017, despite the fact that it implemented a new advanced customer management system and had consequently temporarily reduced its marketing and sales activities during the system integration period.”
“The positive results at our American broadband services subsidiary are in line with expectations following the acquisition of the MetroCast cable systems earlier this year,” stated Mr. Audet. “Major integration steps are now concluded, along with the rebranding to Atlantic Broadband. We are now ready to launch TiVo and Internet speed upgrades to these customers.”
“Results at our Business ICT services subsidiary, Cogeco Peer 1, are stabilizing as evidenced by the trend we have been seeing over these last quarters,” added Mr. Audet. “The team continues to focus on building and offering a relevant suite of solutions and providing expert advice in a constantly evolving and intensely competitive market.”
“As for our radio business, Cogeco Media, advertising markets continue to be soft. Despite this, our teams are working hard to ensure our business retains the leadership position it enjoys,” continued Mr. Audet. “We were very pleased to announce, on April 24, the conclusion of an agreement to acquire 10 regional radio stations owned by RNC Média inc. The addition of these stations, following customary closing conditions, offers an excellent opportunity to further strengthen our solid position in the Québec radio industry.”
“The guidance we are providing for fiscal 2019 points to an exciting year ahead, including a significant increase in free cash flow. This is expected to be achieved while continuing to invest in our operations and upgrading our network to 1 gigabit Internet speeds in approximately 60% of the Canadian footprint and 85% of the American footprint by year end.” concluded Mr. Audet.
ABOUT COGECO
Cogeco Inc. is a diversified holding corporation which operates in the communications and media sectors. Through its Cogeco Communications Inc. subsidiary, Cogeco provides its residential and business customers with Internet, video and telephony services through its two-way broadband fibre networks. Cogeco Communications Inc. operates in Canada under the Cogeco Connexion name in Québec and Ontario, and in the United States under the Atlantic Broadband name in 11 states along the East Coast, from Maine to Florida. Through Cogeco Peer 1, Cogeco Communications Inc. provides its business customers with a suite of information technology services (colocation, network connectivity, hosting, cloud and managed services), through its 16 data centres, extensive FastFiber Network® and more than 50 points of presence in North America and Europe. Through its subsidiary Cogeco Media, Cogeco owns and operates 13 radio stations across most of Québec with complementary radio formats serving a wide range of audiences as well as Cogeco News, its news agency. Cogeco’s subordinate voting shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:CGO). The subordinate voting shares of Cogeco Communications Inc. are also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:CCA).
Source: | Cogeco Inc. |
Patrice Ouimet | |
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer | |
Tel.: 514-764-4700 | |
Information: | Media |
René Guimond | |
Senior Vice-President, Public Affairs and Communications | |
Tel.: 514-764-4700 | |
Analyst Conference Call: | Thursday, July 12, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) |
Media representatives may attend as listeners only. | |
Please use the following dial-in number to have access to the conference call by dialing five minutes before the start of the conference: | |
Canada/United States Access Number: 1-877-291-4570 | |
International Access Number: + 1-647-788-4919 | |
In order to join this conference, participants are only required to provide the operator with the company name, that is, Cogeco Inc. or Cogeco Communications Inc. | |
By Internet at http://corpo.cogeco.com/cgo/en/investors/investor-relations/ | |
SHAREHOLDERS’ REPORT
Three and nine-month periods ended May 31, 2018
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS | |||||||||||||||
Three-months ended | Nine-months ended | ||||||||||||||
May 31, 2018 | May 31, 2017 | Change | Change in constant currency(1) | Foreign exchange impact (2) | May 31, 2018 | May 31, 2017 | Change | Change in constant currency (1) | Foreign exchange impact (2) | ||||||
(in thousands of dollars, except percentages, per share data and number of shares) | $ | $ | % | % | $ | $ | $ | % | % | $ | |||||
Operations | |||||||||||||||
Revenue | 668,927 | 599,654 | 11.6 | 13.7 | (12,802 | ) | 1,878,225 | 1,769,159 | 6.2 | 8.1 | (34,602 | ) | |||
Adjusted EBITDA(1) | 296,769 | 264,831 | 12.1 | 14.1 | (5,474 | ) | 825,631 | 784,141 | 5.3 | 7.0 | (13,552 | ) | |||
Integration, restructuring and acquisition costs(3) | 2,260 | — | — | 18,651 | — | — | |||||||||
Profit for the period | 70,129 | 82,082 | (14.6 | ) | 295,672 | 242,273 | 22.0 | ||||||||
Profit for the period attributable to owners of the Corporation | 24,976 | 30,043 | (16.9 | ) | 100,475 | 86,673 | 15.9 | ||||||||
Cash Flow | |||||||||||||||
Cash flow from operating activities | 191,884 | 243,584 | (21.2 | ) | 412,369 | 620,267 | (33.5 | ) | |||||||
Acquisitions of property, plant and equipment, intangible and other | |||||||||||||||
assets(4) | 112,250 | 100,742 | 11.4 | 14.8 | (3,423 | ) | 336,331 | 285,122 | 18.0 | 21.9 | (11,288 | ) | |||
Free cash flow(1) | 115,502 | 109,639 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 183 | 289,462 | 338,433 | (14.5 | ) | (15.5 | ) | 3,367 | |||
Financial condition(5) | |||||||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents | 63,559 | 212,283 | (70.1 | ) | |||||||||||
Short-term investments | — | 54,000 | (100.0 | ) | |||||||||||
Total assets | 7,202,277 | 5,499,376 | 31.0 | ||||||||||||
Indebtedness(6) | 3,959,874 | 2,633,159 | 50.4 | ||||||||||||
Equity attributable to owners of the Corporation | 686,119 | 578,556 | 18.6 | ||||||||||||
Per Share Data(7) | |||||||||||||||
Earnings per share | |||||||||||||||
Basic | 1.53 | 1.81 | (15.5 | ) | 6.13 | 5.21 | 17.7 | ||||||||
Diluted | 1.51 | 1.80 | (16.1 | ) | 6.08 | 5.17 | 17.6 | ||||||||
Dividends | 0.39 | 0.34 | 14.7 | 1.17 | 1.02 | 14.7 | |||||||||
Weighted average number of multiple and subordinate voting shares outstanding | 16,368,545 | 16,566,422 | (1.2 | ) | 16,389,650 | 16,648,843 | (1.6 | ) |
(1) | The indicated terms do not have standardized definitions prescribed by the International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") and, therefore, may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. For more details, please consult the “Non-IFRS financial measures” section of the MD&A. |
(2) | Key performance indicators presented on a constant currency basis are obtained by translating financial results of the current periods denominated in US dollars and GBP currency at the foreign exchange rates of the comparable periods of the prior year. For the three and the nine-months periods ending May 31, 2017, the average foreign exchange rates used for translation were 1.3479 USD/CDN and 1.7036 GBP/CDN and 1.3318 USD/CDN and 1.6744 GBP/CDN, respectively |
(3) | For the three and nine-month periods ended May 31, 2018, integration, restructuring and acquisition costs were related to the MetroCast acquisition completed on January 4, 2018. |
(4) | For the three and nine-month periods ended May 31, 2018, acquisitions of property, plant and equipment, intangible and other assets in constant currency amounted to $115.7 million and $347.6 million, respectively. |
(5) | At May 31, 2018 and August 31, 2017. |
(6) | Indebtedness is defined as the aggregate of bank indebtedness, balance due on a business combination and principal on long-term debt. |
(7) | Per multiple and subordinate voting shares. |