CEO Natale says 2018 yielded “terrific results”
TORONTO – Rogers credited growth in its wireless division – including 112,000 net additions – for gains in revenue and profits for the fourth quarter of 2018.
On Thursday, Rogers posted profit of $502 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2018, a 1% lift from the same period last year, while adjusted net income jumped 11% to $585 million as a result of higher adjusted EBITDA, partially offset by higher depreciation and amortization.
Total revenue increased 6% to $3.94 billion, largely driven by Wireless service revenue growth of 5%, which Rogers said came as a result of its “balanced approach to continue monetizing the increasing demand for data along with a disciplined approach around subscriber base management”. Increased sales of higher value devices and hardware upgrades helped to push up Wireless equipment revenue by 17%.
Cable revenue increased 1% this quarter thanks to Internet revenue growth of 6% led by 25,000 net additions. Media revenue increased 3% primarily as a result of higher advertising and sports-related revenue.
The company ended the quarter with 9.16 million wireless postpaid customers and 1.63 million prepaid customers, up 453,000 and down 152,000, respectively, from the same period last year. On the TV side, Rogers lost 16,000 cable customers to fall to 1.69 million; added 25,000 Internet customers to sit at 2.43 million broadband subs; and lost 4,000 home phone customers and now has 1.12 million of those households.
“We delivered strong financial and operating results in the fourth quarter and terrific results for the full year,” said president and CEO Joe Natale, in a statement. “We delivered on all of our key financial commitments and released a strong outlook for 2019. Overall, we have good momentum and we continue to make meaningful and substantial headway on our key strategic priorities, including our relentless focus on our customers, our well-timed investments in our networks, and our steadfast commitment to deliver strong shareholder value.”
Click here for Rogers’ fourth quarter report.
