MONTREAL – Profits more than doubled while revenue shot up by more than 12% during the second quarter at Cogeco Inc.
The Montreal-based company said Thursday that profits for the quarter ended February 29, 2012 reached $81.5 million, up from $22.4 million in the same period last year, which it attributed to gain on the sale of Portuguese subsidiary Cabovisao, which was partly offset by the increase of depreciation and amortization expense due to the reduction of depreciation period for certain property, plant and equipment.
Consolidated revenue increased by 12.4% to $345.6 million primarily due to gains in its cable sector. Cable revenue…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco has boosted its Internet speeds in Peterborough, ON with the launch of three new packages.
The new 'Turbo 20' package offers a download speed of up to 20 Mbps, upload speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps and a monthly data transfer capacity of 80 GB. For this package, bandwidth usage that exceeds the specified monthly data transfer capacity limit will be billed at $1.50 per additional GB, with a maximum of $50 per month.
Available for the promotional price of $44.95 per month for 12 months for customers who also subscribe to Cogeco's television and/or home phone services,…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has officially sold off its flagging Portuguese subsidiary Cabovisao – Televisao por Cabo, S.A. to the European Group ALTICE for EUR45 million (approximately $59.3 million).
Cogeco, which announced both the sale and the closing of the transaction on Wednesday, said that the sale price may be subject to adjustments for “certain contingent claims”.
The deal puts to rest speculation that Cogeco was seeking to unload Cabovisao after completely writing off its investment in the company in the third quarter of 2011, amid a net loss of more than $56 million.
Cogeco originally bought Cabovisao for $658…
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MONTRÉAL – Cogeco Cable has announced new international long distance plans for its Home Phone customers in Ontario and Quebec.
The new international long distance plans allow customers to further personalize their phone service based on their needs while offering reduced rates says Cogeco.
The Europe Plan, available to both Ontario and Quebec customers, includes calls to 15 countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom), at rates of $5.00 per month for 100 minutes, or $20.00 per month for 500 minutes.
The Discounted Rate Plan, available in Ontario and Quebec, applies to…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has announced it has expanded its home phone service to nine new Ontario communities including: Camlachie, Harrow, Colchester, Blenheim, Ridgetown, Dresden, Port Sydney, Ancaster and Montpellier Trail. Customers from these regions can now subscribe to Cogeco's Home Phone service starting at $14.99 per month.
To sign up, customers can select one of the three packages plus any additional calling features they wish. Cogeco's technical services is free of charge when combined with a subscription to another Cogeco service.
"We're excited to launch our Home Phone service in these 9 Ontario cities because we know it truly is…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco has added five new high definition channels to its lineup in Ontario.
Effective immediately, YTV HD is available on channel 726, Family HD is on channel 725, HGTV HD is on channel 760, Food Network HD is on channel 761 and W HD is on channel 763.
“Our HD TV service offers so much diversity and quality that our customers just want more and more”, said Ron Perrotta, VP of marketing and strategic planning, in the announcement. “Adding these five channels that cater to a variety of tastes and needs is perfectly in synch with our goal of…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has released its first corporate social responsibility report.
Using Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, such reports typically cover an organization's environmental, social and economic performance. Cogeco noted that the three core environmental issues specifically relevant to its operations include greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the production of primarily electronic waste, and the use of raw materials.
The qualitative and quantitative data contained in the report will serve as the starting point “for a process of continuous improvement to achieve an appropriate balance among our financial, social and environmental objectives”, the company said. It also announced plans to publish…
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MONTREAL – Profits at Cogeco Inc. were up by 20.4% for its first quarter of 2012, largely on the strength of its Canadian operations.
The Montreal-based company said Thursday that profits for the period ended November 30, 2011 were $47.9 million, up from $39.8 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2011. Consolidated revenues were $387.5 million, a 13.4% increase from last year, while revenues for its Canadian operations were up 9.8% to $315.4 million.
Cogeco's primary service units (the sum of its television, high speed Internet and telephony service customers, formerly reported as RGUs) in its cable subsidiary increased 1.8% to…
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MONTREAL – While its competitors in the telecom industry are becoming more vertically integrated, Cogeco president and CEO Louis Audet says his company is comfortable in its position as a mid-sized telecom and has no plans to copy companies like Bell and Rogers by acquiring TV specialty channels or building a wireless network.
Audet has a reason to be confident. Cogeco's first-quarter earnings, released Thursday morning before the annual shareholders' meetings of the company and subsidiary Cogeco Cable, shows its profit up 20% to $47.9 million from $39.8 million for the first quarter of last year,…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. has officially completed its acquisition of transit advertising company Metromedia CMR Plus Inc.
The deal, announced last month, will see Metromedia Plus added to radio division Cogeco Diffusion and headed up by SVP Richard Lachance.
"Combined with our portfolio of radio stations in many of Quebec's markets, the addition of Metromedia Plus brings a diversification of our media operations and a higher impact media offering for our advertising partners," Lachance said in the announcement.
Metromedia Plus represents over 100 public transit markets in Quebec and across Canada.
www.cogeco.ca
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