MONTREAL – Losses in its television sector helped cut TVA’s year-over-year net income nearly in half for its third quarter ended September 30, 2009.
Net income was $6.4 million, down from $12 million for the corresponding quarter of 2008, which the company said was due to “significant income tax benefits” realized during the third quarter of 2008.
However, the Quebecor Media subsidiary’s consolidated operating income was $10.3 million, down slightly when compared with $10.8 million during the same quarter of 2008.
High operating losses at Sun TV lead to a 16% drop in the television sector’s operating income over the corresponding quarter last year. The division also saw a 12.5% decrease in operating income of its specialty services, and a 5% dip in operating income for the TVA Network.
In contrast, its publishing sector saw an increase of $1.23 million, or 50.5%, in its operating income when compared to last year’s third quarter, despite a 6.4% decrease in advertising revenues. TVA’s distribution sector recorded an operating loss of $749,000 compared with an operating loss of $517,000 for the corresponding quarter of 2008.
"Although we have been withstanding the current economic crisis and market trends relatively well up until now, our results for the last quarter are testimony to the pressure in the advertising market”, said president and CEO Pierre Dion, in a statement.
Dion also said that TVA is pursuing a strategy to invest more in programming and promotion of its French-language specialty channels.
Cash flows generated by operating activities for the quarter were $1,558,000 compared with $11,926,000 for the corresponding quarter of last year. This decrease is essentially the result of the net variance in non-cash working capital items from both accounts receivable and accounts payable.
