MONTREAL — Despite a slight year-over-year increase in revenues in the first quarter of 2021, Quebecor’s TVA Group experienced a net loss in the three months ended March 31 and saw earnings drop significantly in its broadcasting segment, particularly at TVA Sports.
TVA Group’s consolidated revenues for Q1 2021 were $140.8 million, representing a year-over-year increase of $3.7 million compared to Q1 2020 when it reported revenues of $137.1 million. The company’s net loss for this year’s first quarter was $4.5 million, compared with a net loss of $712,000 in the same quarter of 2020.
The company’s overall adjusted EBITDA was $2.1 million in the first quarter of 2021, compared to $8.5 million in the first quarter of 2020, a 75% decrease.
The drop in earnings was mostly due to negative adjusted EBITDA of $3.4 million in TVA’s broadcasting segment, which compared to $3.8 million positive adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter of 2020 represents a decrease of $7.2 million.
That drop was “due primarily to a decrease in profitability at TVA Sports, which recorded a significant increase in costs as a result of the change in the broadcast schedule for the National Hockey League (NHL) 2020-2021 season, partially offset by increased profitability at TVA Network and commercial production activities,” says TVA Group’s press release announcing its Q1 2021 results.
“Although the decrease in adjusted EBITDA this quarter was mainly due to higher costs at ‘TVA Sports’ as a result of the NHL’s condensed 2020-2021 season, our business volume is gradually recovering and is approaching normal levels… That said, conditions remain fragile and our activities continue to depend on a number of evolving factors such as the government measures implemented to control the spread of Covid-19 and the difficult situation faced by some of our customers and advertisers,” said Pierre Karl Péladeau, acting president and CEO of TVA Group, in the press release.
“Despite these conditions, we see encouraging signs, particularly in the advertising market for the broadcasting segment, which posted growth from the same quarter of 2020, at both TVA Network and our specialty channels. Our digital platforms, particularly our new destination, TVA+, continue to increase in popularity and are thus driving growth of our non-traditional advertising revenues,” added Péladeau.
Looking at TVA Group’s other segments, its MELS film production and audiovisual services segment enjoyed $3.6 million in adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter of 2021, compared to $3.2 million in the same quarter of 2020.
Adjusted EBITDA for TVA Group’s Incendo production and distribution segment (acquired two years ago) was $113,000 for the first quarter of 2021, a $554,000 negative variance from the $667,000 in adjusted EBITDA the company reported in the same quarter of 2020.
For more information about TVA Group’s financial results for Q1 2021, please click here.
