MONTREAL – So far, so good in fiscal 2009, reported Astral Media Wednesday morning.
The radio, pay & specialty TV and outdoor advertising company reported 24% revenue growth, a 13% increase in net earnings from continuing operations and a 21% increase in EBITDA for the quarter ended November 30, 2008.
New brands just launched such as Virgin Radio and HBO Canada are faring well and advertising revenues in Quebec on the company’s French specialty channels grew at a rate of 7% while the rest of the TV ad market in Quebec took a 2% dip, said company CEO Ian Greenberg in a conference call with financial analysts this morning.
Consolidated revenues totaled $244.5 million for the first quarter, an increase of 24% over Q1 2008, as the full impact of the addition of Standard Radio is also still being felt. Consolidated net earnings from continuing operations for the first three months of fiscal 2009 increased by 13% over last year, rising to $42.4 million from $37.5 million last year.
EBITDA for the first three months increased 21% to $79.5 million from $65.5 million for the same quarter last year.
The most notable addition to the Astral brand stable has been the launch of HBO Canada in its eastern Canada territories (Corus runs the brand in the west) in the fall. So far, new subscriber additions haven’t yet flowed to the bottom line in a big way since many cable and satellite carriers only began marketing the new channel during Astral’s second quarter, but anecdotal evidence is very positive, said Greenberg, who called activity in cable and satellite call centres “robust.”
“Activity in their call centres has increased dramatically,” he added. “I haven’t been this excited about anything we’ve done since the launch of SVOD three years ago.”
While Virgin Radio in Toronto has shown ratings growth since its launch in August, the other three Virgin stations were just launched in Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa and are too new to judge.
And as for whether or not Astral will follow the lead and have to cut staff as the economy falters? No need right now, said Greenberg, who indicated that the outlook for ’09 remains “unclear.” While staffing is reviewed monthly, “we have no plans for a major workforce reduction,” he explained.
– Greg O’Brien
