OTTAWA – While higher profits in the oil and bank industries drove a 5.8% upswing in third quarter operating profits to a record high $67 billion among Canadian corporations, telecommunications companies also showed significant profit increases as well, reports Statistics Canada this morning.
However, those telecom profits (and also those in the car sector) were mainly due to unusually large charges booked against profits in the second quarter.
Non-financial industries earned $47.5 billion, up 5.7% from the second quarter, which had shown a 0.4% profit decline. The financial industries’ profits of $19.4 billion were up 6.2%, building on a second-quarter increase of 5.1%.
The information and cultural industries saw profits swell to $3.4 billion from $2.7 billion in the second quarter. Within this group, telecommunication carriers earned a more typical $2.5 billion, following a second quarter tumble to $2 billion due to large, one-time remuneration expenses booked in the quarter.
Motor vehicles post biggest profit increase in manufacturing sector.
Overall profits in the manufacturing sector increased 8.3% to $11.7 billion in the third quarter, but remained well below the most recent high, which reached $12.7 billion in the second quarter of 2004. Profits had declined in four of the previous six quarters. For this sector, third quarter operating revenues were down for a second consecutive quarter. The Monthly Survey of Manufacturing recently reported that manufacturers’ sales have shown a weakening trend over the past six months, with the appreciating Canadian dollar playing a major role.
