MONTREAL – Momentum in the advertising market, particularly during its fourth quarter, helped Astral Media to achieve its 14th consecutive year of growth.
In Fiscal 2010, consolidated revenues totalled $961.0 million, an increase of 6% over the $905.7 million recorded last year. Excluding the favourable Part II licence fees accrual reversal of $11.6 million and the $9.7 million copyright tariff charge recorded earlier in the year, EBITDA for the 12-month period increased 5% to $306.8 million from $293.1 million for Fiscal 2009. Consolidated net earnings for the year were up 13% over last year, to $175.4 million from $155.2 million.
"I am particularly pleased with the results delivered by each of our business units in Fiscal 2010 and by their strong performance to finish the year," said president and CEO, Ian Greenberg, in a statement. "The fourth quarter showed encouraging signs of recovery for Canadian advertising markets, positively affecting all our business segments and building momentum as we enter the new fiscal year."
Television revenues were $550.7 million for the year, an increase of 7% over last year, thanks to an 11% jump in advertising revenue and a 6% increase in subscriber-related revenue. Astral also noted that the number of pay TV subscribers to The Movie Network and Super Écran grew 5% over the same period last year to reach 1.848 million.
Revenues in the company’s radio group were $333.5 million for 2010, up 3% over 2009 totals. Astral recorded an expense of $9.7 million in Radio as a result of Copyright Board tariff increases retroactive to January 2008. Outdoor advertising revenues were $76.6 million, an increase of 10% from last year.
