CALGARY – Continued customer growth across all its products produced improvements in consolidated service revenue, operating income, and net income at Shaw Communications.
In detailing second quarter financial results, the company also announced a dividend increase of 12% or $0.12 per share for both Class B and Class A shares.
During the quarter ending Feb. 28th, Internet and digital subscribers increased by 40,694 to 1,389,333 and by 28,641 to 725,528 respectively. Digital phone lines increased 41,721 to 292,625, basic subscribers were up 6,625 to 2,220,082, and DTH customers increased 928 to 872,562.
“We are pleased with the performance across our divisions, and saw strong growth in revenue and service operating income before amortization,” said CEO Jim Shaw, in a statement. “This quarter, we continued to drive performance through customer growth and as a result, delivered solid business metrics to our shareholders.”
Shaw continued to roll out digital phone service, making it available to about 2.6 million homes, or about 75% of homes passed. During the quarter, digital service was expanded to Kelowna, Kamloops and Penticton in B.C., as well as Fort Saskatchewan and Canmore, in Alberta. The service is also now available to Abbotsford and Chilliwack, B.C.
Shaw noted the introduction of a new telephony product, Shaw Digital Phone Lite, which he said “is tailored for light long distance users and gives our customers the opportunity to customize their home phone service to meet their needs.”
Cable service revenue increased 14.5% for the quarter to $514.4 million, while satellite division service revenue increased 5.7%, in both cases due to customer growth and rate increases.
Internet penetration of basic now stands at 62.6%, up from 59.6% on August 31, 2006.
Shaw reported consolidated service revenue of $685.7 million for the quarter, a 12.2% improvement over the same period last year, and total service operating income before amortization of $303 million, a 13.1% increase.
Net income of $79.8 million or $0.37 per share for the second quarter compared to $45.8 million or $0.21 per share for the same period last year.
“We continue to see ongoing demand and prospects for growth across all our products,” Shaw said. “We believe we are well-positioned to capture this growth by offering value to our customers across our triple play of entertainment and communications services. Our focus on strengthening and enhancing current products, developing innovative new offerings and investing in our network to ensure it is fully capable of delivering these offerings is generating significant operating momentum and improved financial performance.”
