MONTREAL – Sales growth at its Videotron subsidiary helped to buoy second quarter profits and revenues at Quebecor Inc., the company reported Thursday.
Consolidated revenues for the quarter ended June 30 were $1.09 billion, up 3.1% year-over-year from $1.05 billion, while operating income dipped 0.2% to $357.8 million from $358.5 million. Net income attributable to shareholders rose to $67.0 million over $55.2 million last year, which the company said was predominantly due to non-operating items.
Videotron marked revenue increases at all of its core services: Internet access was up 11.9%, cable television climbed 6.1%, mobile telephony service increased 56.9%, and cable telephony service rose by 4.5%.
The segment's operating income was $301.7 million, up 10.0% from $274.2 million in the same period last year, while quarterly revenue climbed to $651.8 million from $601.1 million year-over-year.
Videotron also posted a net increase of 31,100 revenue generating units (defined as the sum of cable television, cable and wireless Internet access, and cable telephony service subscriptions, plus subscriber connections to the mobile telephony service) during the quarter. The company rolled out its illico TV new generation service across all of its service area this quarter, offering more than six million Quebecers access to the new cable television service.
"In the first half of 2012, Quebecor actively pursued its customer, product and business development strategies, combined with vigorous operating cost-control initiatives, in order to achieve its long-term growth and profitability targets", said president and CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau, in a statement.
"Our second quarter results were marked by the Telecommunications segment's excellent results while our News Media segment's results declined from the same period of 2011, mainly because of significant investments in, among other things, the distribution network and the publishing of community newspapers.”
