MONTREAL – TVA saw a 7.5% decline in net income for its fourth quarter, but reported an 11.6% increase in consolidated net income for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2008.
Net income for the last quarter of 2008 was $14.4 million, compared with net income of $15.6 million, for the corresponding quarter of 2007.
Consolidated net income was $66.3 million, compared with $59.4 million for the previous fiscal year, but the company’s consolidated operating income was $22.4 million, against operating income of $22.8 million for the same quarter of 2007, representing a decrease of 1.9%, the press release reported.
"Considering the economic situation and the difficult context in which conventional television finds itself, we are satisfied with our results for the last quarter despite the decline in our operating income and our net income against the same quarter last year,” said president and CEO Pierre Dion, in the release. “Faced with TQS network’s singular situation and while making the most of its number one position, TVA network managed to maintain its advertising revenues for the last quarter. In addition, our specialty channels continued to grow, recording an 18% increase in operating revenues and a 26% increase in operating income."
TVA’s television sector saw a slight decrease in operating income of $244,000, or 1.2%, compared with the same quarter of 2007, which, according to the release, are due to a combination of the following:
– a 26% increase in operating income for its specialty channels;
– an increase of $867,000 in the operating loss of SUN TV, the conventional television station in Toronto, mainly as a result of lower advertising revenues;
– a 72% drop in operating income for the home shopping division also resulting from a drop in sales during the quarter.
For its Distribution sector, operating income decreased from $1.50 million for the fourth quarter of 2007 to $1.07 million in 2008, due to lower sales of rights in the television market.
