TORONTO – A lift in television revenues helped to boost second quarter revenues at Corus Entertainment, the company said Friday.
Consolidated revenues for the three months ended February 28, 2019 were $384.1 million, up 4% from $369.5 million last year, and consolidated segment profit was $113.1 million, relatively unchanged from $112.8 million in the same period last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders for the period plunged to $6.3 million from $40.0 million last year, and included business acquisition, integration and restructuring costs of $4.0 million and an impairment of an investment in associates of $8.7 million. Adjusting for the impact of these items results in an adjusted net income attributable to shareholders of $15.7 million for the quarter.
"Corus delivered another strong quarter, with double-digit Television advertising revenue growth exceeding our expectations," said president and CEO Doug Murphy, in the company's press release. "The benefits of our ongoing progress in advanced advertising and data initiatives, our client centric approach and robust advertising demand are reflected in these positive results, partially offset by softness in our Radio segment and timing-related variability in our content business. Notably, the strength of our free cash flow in the quarter is accelerating our progress towards our leverage targets and supporting the advancement of our strategic priorities as we continue to build for the future."
Corus’ television segment revenues for the quarter increased 5% to $353.5 million from $415.5 million year-over-year, while radio revenues fell 8% to $30.7 million from $33.2 million last year.
Television segment profit grew 10% to $113.7 million from $103.7 million year-over-year, while radio segment profit fell 28% to $4.9 million from $6.9 million.
Other highlights from Corus’ Q2 financial report include:
Television
– Advertising revenues increased 11% in Q2 2019;
– Subscriber revenues dipped 1%;
– Merchandising, distribution and other revenues were down 13%; and
– Segment profit margin of 32% in Q2 2019 compared to 31% in the prior year.
Radio
– Segment profit margin of 16% in Q1 2019 compared to 21% in the prior year.
