MONTREAL – For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016, revenue at Cogeco Inc. increased by $18 million, or 3.2%, to reach $572 million driven by growth in the communications segment mainly through the improvement of its American broadband services operations, the company said in a press release announcing its Q4 and fiscal 2016 year-end results.
Adjusted EBITDA increased by 5.6% to reach $258.3 million compared to the same period of fiscal 2015 mainly as a result of the improvement in the Communications segment and profit for the period amounted to $80.7 million, compared to profit for the period of $78.5 million for the fourth quarter on fiscal 2015.
Free cash flow reached $88 million compared to $73.2 million, an increase of 20.3%, compared to the same quarter of the prior year
For the fiscal year ended August 31, 2016, revenue increased by 5.5%, to reach $2.31 billion. driven by growth in the Communications segment mainly through the improvement of its American broadband services operations combined with favorable foreign exchange rates compared to the prior year.
Adjusted EBITDA increased by 6.7%, to reach $1.018 billion compared to fiscal 2015.
Loss for the year amounted to $158.7 million, compared to profit for the year of $265.2 million for fiscal 2015. The decrease is mainly due to the non-cash pre-tax impairment of goodwill and intangible asset of $450 million which occurred in the Communications segment.
Free cash flow reached $298.1 million compared to $290.7 million, an increase of 2.5%.
"As we close our fiscal year 2016, we are generally satisfied with Cogeco Inc.'s overall results for the fourth quarter," said Louis Audet, president and CEO, in a release. "In our Cogeco Communications Inc. subsidiary, Cogeco Connexion, our Canadian broadband services operations, continues to perform well in the highly competitive and evolving market. Results for the quarter are in line with expectations, demonstrating our capacity to grow, while maintaining rigorous cost control discipline. Our American broadband services operations, Atlantic Broadband, has continued to report steady growth, including an increase in primary service units, confirming strong organic growth, and the solid performance of our newly acquired Connecticut system, which recently launched its Gigabit internet service.”
