MONTREAL – Despite an uptick in revenue, Quebecor Inc. ended 2013 with a net loss of $133.9 million, the company said Thursday.
Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2013 was $4.28 billion, up 0.7% from $4.25 billion in 2012, while adjusted operating income rose 5.1% to $1.45 billion over $1.38 billion last year. Adjusted income from continuing operations shot up to $214.1 million versus $182.3 million in 2012.
The Montreal-based company reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of $133.9 million for 2013, a significant turnaround from a net income of $161.1 million in 2012. It said the loss was due to an unfavourable non-cash impact of fluctuations in the value of goodwill, intangible assets and derivative financial instruments.
Videotron's revenues grew 4.4% to $2.71 billion and its adjusted operating income rose 6.7% to a record $1.28 billion. It also recorded revenue increases for all its main services in 2013: mobile telephony ($49.1 million or 28.6%), Internet access ($45.9 million or 5.9%), cable telephony ($18.9 million or 4.2%), and cable television ($11.0 million or 1.0%). Average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) rose 5.8% to $118.03.
Videotron increased its revenue-generating units by 122,700 to total 5,040,000 for 2013. At year end, Videotron had 1,825,100 cable subscribers (including 1,531,400 illico digital TV subscribers); 1,418,300 Internet subscribers; 1,286,100 cable telephony service subscribers, and 503,300 subscriber connections to its mobile telephone service.
Quebecor Media’s news media segment, Sun Media Corporation, saw 2013 revenues drop 10.4% to $784.2 million due to the closure of newspapers and specialty publications since the end of 2012 under restructuring initiatives.
For the fourth quarter, Quebecor saw revenues rise by 0.5% to $1.12 billion and adjusted operating income increase by 6.9% to $391.3 million. Net income attributable to shareholders jumped to $43.4 million compared with $7.1 million in the same period of 2012, and adjusted income from continuing operations was $68.0 million, versus $52.3 million year-over-year.
Quebecor president and CEO Robert Depatie said the company was still deciding how best to use the $233.3 million worth of 700 MHz operating licences that Videotron acquired last month, which cover the majority of Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
“They make it possible to reach approximately 80% of Canada's population, more than 28 million people”, he said in a statement. “Quebecor Media could not let pass this opportunity to invest in the acquisition of such intrinsically valuable licences in the rest of Canada. While no decision has yet been made on how to use the spectrum, various options for maximizing the value of our investment are now available to us."
The board of directors of Quebecor declared a quarterly dividend of $0.025 per share on its Class A and Class B shares payable on April 22 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 28, 2014.
In a separate company announcement, Depatie was named as a member of the boards of Quebecor, Quebecor Media and TVA Group. Quebecor Media also named Francoise Bertrand as chairperson and Brian Mulroney as vice chairman of its board, the positions they occupy on the board of Quebecor.
