MONTREAL – Led by results at Videotron, Quebecor saw first quarter profits jump by over $52 million, the company said earlier this week.
Net income attributable to shareholders for the period grew to $56.7 million from $3.9 million year-over-year, which the company said was due primarily to a favourable variance on the valuation of financial instruments.
Revenues of $1.01 billion inched up 0.5% from the first quarter of 2017. Revenues increased in Telecommunications ($18.4 million or 2.3% of segment revenues), but fell in Media ($10.9 million or -5.9%) and in Sports and Entertainment ($1.1 million or -2.9%). Adjusted operating income grew 13.6% to $414.8 million.
Videotron added 19,300 revenue-generating units in the first quarter of 2018, including 23,300 connections to its mobile telephony service, 21,800 Club illico subscriptions, and 8,100 subscriptions to its cable Internet access service.
“The Telecommunications segment was the main profitability driver for Quebecor in the first quarter of 2018,” said Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau, in a statement. “To maintain its lead over the competition, the Corporation continued making investments, including spending on its Internet Protocol television project, based on the XFINITY X1 platform developed by our partner, Comcast Corporation. This forward-looking project will eventually provide our customers with the best television anywhere and equip Quebecor Media with a powerful convergence tool to support enhancement of its content.”
Quebecor’s complete Q1 2018 financial results are available here.
