CEO says they are looking with “increasing favour” on expanding their wireless business
MONTREAL – Quebecor today reported its first quarter 2022 financial results, showing revenues fell by 0.3% to $1.1 billion, compared to the first quarter of 2021.
Adjusted EBITDA was also down, with the company reporting it decreased by 2.3% to $442.1 million.
Quebecor’s telecommunications segment reported revenues declined to $903.4 million in Q1 2022, compared to $914 million in Q1 2021 and adjusted EBITDA for the segment was reported to be $460 million in Q1 2022, compared to $450.9 million in the same quarter last year.
Videotron reported an 8.7% increase in revenues from mobile services and equipment and a 0.7% increase from internet access services in Q1 2022.
Quebecor’s media segment reported an increase in revenue to $181.8 million from $174.8 million, and the sports and entertainment segment reported revenue increased to $34.1 million from $31.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA for media was reported to be -11.9 million (down from $1.3 million in Q1 2021) and sports and entertainment’s adjusted EBITDA was reported to be -0.1 million (down from $2.1 million).
“In the first quarter of 2022, Quebecor continued to perform well in a competitive environment in Québec, increasing RGUs in mobile, Internet access and OTT services, and growing the market share of TVA Network and the specialty channels,” said Quebecor president and CEO, Pierre Karl Péladeau, in the release.
“To maintain its leading position amidst the accelerating proliferation of content and of distribution platforms, the Corporation stepped up its spending on content,” he said, adding the investments did have “a short-term adverse impact” on the company’s profitability.
Péladeau also noted in the release, “Videotron’s flagship mobile telephone and Internet access services continued to attract growing numbers of customers, with increases of 123,200 connections, or 8.2%, and 41,200 customers, or 2.3%, respectively, over the past 12 months.”
The Quebecor CEO also addressed the company’s OTT services, stating: “Driven by rich and diverse content, our OTT services also performed strongly, posting a 9.0% increase over the past 12 months. With their diverse, constantly updated selection of original content, Vrai and Club illico now have more than half a million subscribers, a strong indication of the soundness of our choices and investments in the production of Québec content.”
Péladeau further mentioned the Competition Bureau’s recent decision regarding the proposed merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications in the press release. (The Globe and Mail recently reported Rogers has invited Quebecor to join the bidding process for Shaw’s Freedom Mobile.)
The Competition Bureau’s decision, “coupled with statements from the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), allow us to look with increasing favour on the expansion of our wireless business, in view of the prospect that we will have the alternatives of acquiring Shaw’s wireless assets, which might have to be divested by Rogers, or launching a telecom offering in the Canadian provinces where we have acquired – despite TELUS’ legal challenge – the spectrum needed to start up our operations,” Péladeau said.
“We believe that these alternatives position us very favourably, as governmental and administrative authorities, including the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, pursue the public policy of establishing the conditions for true competition in wireless services in Canada. Our undeniable success, as evidenced by our market share of more than 22% in Québec, demonstrates our multidimensional expertise. We would apply that expertise with equal energy in the other parts of Canada. The opportunities are many and the alternatives promising.”
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