TORONTO – Corus Entertainment’s television, radio and content divisions all saw growth in the third quarter of fiscal 2008, ended May 31, the company reported this morning and overall, the company has been helped by tax changes, too.
"This was another strong quarter for Corus Entertainment meeting our expectations," said John Cassaday, president and CEO, in the company’s press release. "Once again, we delivered excellent results from our television division; solid revenue performance from all of our divisions; and continued excellent overall cost control. We remain very optimistic about our outlook, particularly given the growth opportunities in the expanding women’s segment of specialty television and continued strong economic performance in western Canada, supporting our radio and premium television businesses."
Corus owns such TV assets as W, CMT, YTV, CosmoTV and others, 53 radio stations including Q107, CKNW and The Edge, and content producer Nelvana.
Consolidated revenues in the quarter were $207.8 million, up 5% compared to Q3 2007. Consolidated segment profit was $71.8 million, up 11%, net income for the quarter was $37.7 million ($0.45 basic and diluted shares), compared to net income of $29.6 million ($0.35 basic and $0.34 diluted) last year. The current quarter benefited from $10 million in recoveries related to income tax changes, and was negatively impacted by an accrual of $9.7 million related to disputed regulatory fees (Part II license fees).
Corus television contributed quarterly revenues of $114.6 million, up 5% over the same quarter of last year, led by specialty advertising growth of 2% and subscriber revenue growth of 2%. Quarterly segment profit increased to $49.6 million, up 8%.
Company radio revenues were $77 million, up 3%, and segment profit was $24.7 million compared to $25.1 million last year.
Corus content revenues were $16.3 million, up 12% compared to Q3 ‘07. Segment profit was $3.7 million, compared to $100,000 last year.
Year-to-date revenues for the nine months ended May 31, 2008 were $601.4 million, up 3%, and consolidated segment profit was $204.9 million, up 5%. Net income for the nine-month period was $112.4 million ($1.35 basic and $1.32 diluted), up 31%. However, the current period benefited from $23.2 million in recoveries related to income tax changes, and was negatively impacted by the above mentioned regulatory fees.
Corus Television contributed revenues of $345.3 million, up 4%, led by specialty advertising growth of 3% and subscriber revenue growth of 2%. Segment profit increased to $156.1 million, up 5%.
Radio revenues were $218.0 million, up 4% and segment profit was $60.4 million, up 1%.
Content revenues were $39.1 million, down 10% from $43.7 million last year. Segment profit, however, was $4.6 million, compared to $3.2 million last year.
