TORONTO – Rogers Communications Inc. reported strong first quarter 2006 results, posting revenues of $2.0 billion, up 28.4% from the previous quarter.
Operating revenue rose in all three units, increasing 53.2% at Rogers Cable (which includes cable, Internet, and VoIP), 20.1% at Rogers Wireless, and 9.5% at Rogers Media. RCI’s operating profit rose 25.5% (year over year) to nearly $600 million for the three months ended Mar. 31, 2006.
Its subscriber base continued net growth that quarter, adding 89,600 wireless voice and data subscribers, 48,700 cable telephony subscribers, 11,400 circuit-switched telephony customers, 50,000 digital cable subscribers, and 40,300 residential high-speed Internet customers. Wireless’ monthly churn continued to decrease, down 43 percentage points from the same quarter last year, to 1.47% of subscribers. Rogers now has nearly 1.18 million Internet customers.
“This quarter represents a strong start for 2006 as increasing numbers of Canadians chose Rogers as their provider of choice for communication and entertainment services,” said Ted Rogers, RCI President and CEO, in a statement. “While in 2005 we focused heavily on the integration of acquisitions and on reorganizing our operations, 2006 is all about execution and continuing to deliver on our core strategy of profitable growth and driving innovation to add value to the lives of our customers.”
The company also announced today that its board of directors has declared a semi-annual dividend of $0.075 per share on each of its outstanding Class B Non-Voting shares and Class A Voting shares. The semi-annual dividend declared today will be paid on July 4 to shareholders of record on June 14.
On Feb. 14, RCI repaid at maturity the $75.0 million aggregate principal amount outstanding of its 10.5% Senior Notes so that virtually all long-term debt resides at Cable and Telecom, Wireless, and Media.
