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Indigo founder Heather Reisman becomes executive chair, Peter Ruis named new CEO – The Globe and Mail

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Founder of Indigo Books and Music, Heather Reisman, outside their locations at Sherway Gardens, in Toronto, on Sept., 10, 2020.Christopher Katsarov/(Christopher Katsarov/The Globe

Heather Reisman, who built Canada’s largest book seller even as Amazon reshaped the business around her, is stepping away from her role as chief executive of Indigo Books & Music Inc., with the promotion of Peter Ruis to the top job.

Mr. Ruis joined Indigo as president in February of last year before being appointed to the CEO role on Monday.

But the announcement is not a retirement for the company’s founder. Ms. Reisman, 74, will take on the role of executive chair and “will continue to drive Indigo’s vision and growth strategy while also remaining deeply involved in the business,” according to a statement the company released on Tuesday.

“Heather’s role will be around the future vision for the business, the long-term point of view,” Mr. Ruis said in an interview. “My role is the day-to-day, running the business, the operational strategy, and really executing against that broader vision.”

Indigo trims Q4 loss and squeaks out a $3.3-million profit for the full year

That vision includes international expansion, Mr. Ruis said, noting that Indigo’s sole U.S. store, in New Jersey, is currently its best-performing location. The company plans to build more stores in the United States, and possibly in Europe over time, he said, as well as expanding its global e-commerce sales.

“We hope to double this business over the next five to 10 years and make it truly international,” Mr. Ruis said.

But in the near term, the Toronto-based retailer is still recovering from the effects of the pandemic, which decimated retail sales. And the company was struggling before the global shock of COVID-19, recording a net loss in the fiscal year ended March 30, 2019. It continued to lose money through fiscal 2020 and 2021, before reporting a profit of $3.3-million on revenues of $1.1-billion in its most recent fiscal year ended April 2.

Indigo is also grappling with shifting consumer habits and macroeconomic pressures, including supply chain snags, higher fuel costs and inflation. These factors contributed to a wider net loss in its first quarter this year compared to last. The company is preparing for the crucial holiday period, which is typically when Indigo makes most of its money for the year.

Indigo also announced on Tuesday that its chief customer and digital officer, Andrea Limbardi, has been appointed president.

Ms. Reisman opened the first big-box Indigo bookstore in Burlington, Ont., 25 years ago, on Sept. 4, 1997. In 2001, the company merged with Chapters, becoming the largest book retailer in the country.

Like other bookstore chains, Indigo faced increasing competitive pressure from the explosive growth of Amazon. For many years, Indigo has coped with those changes by expanding its focus, selling general merchandise such as housewares, children’s toys, candles, pens and accessories including wallets and scarves. In the past two years, this strategy has accelerated with the launch of more private-label brands – such as a homeware line called OUI, paper and stationery brand Nota, apparel and accessories collection Love & Lore, and kids’ furniture and decor line Mini Maison.

General merchandise now makes up nearly half of Indigo’s sales, and Mr. Ruis said he believes such products help to draw customers into stores more frequently than books, which are easier to buy online.

“COVID accelerated a lot of changes across the industry,” retail industry consultant George Minakakis said. “If I were in their shoes, I’d say you’re going to have to scale back the number of stores. There are just too many of them. And how are you going to enhance the experience so people really, really want to come back and shop?”

Drawing people into stores is a priority: While retail traffic has improved over the past year, it is still 20 per cent to 30 per cent lower than it was three years ago, Mr. Ruis said, but he expects further recovery as people return to offices more frequently.

In the early days of the pandemic, Indigo closed 15 of its smaller-format stores, and has since pared back another 10 locations: As of the first quarter, the retailer had 172 stores across Canada.

“I’m still a great believer in stores,” Mr. Ruis said. “It’s obviously going to be, still, a digital revolution, but we’ve got 170-odd stores, and I think we’re going to build some more over the next five years.”

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Telus prioritizing ‘most important customers,’ avoiding ‘unprofitable’ offers: CFO

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Telus Corp. says it is avoiding offering “unprofitable” discounts as fierce competition in the Canadian telecommunications sector shows no sign of slowing down.

The company said Friday it had fewer net new customers during its third quarter compared with the same time last year, as it copes with increasingly “aggressive marketing and promotional pricing” that is prompting more customers to switch providers.

Telus said it added 347,000 net new customers, down around 14.5 per cent compared with last year. The figure includes 130,000 mobile phone subscribers and 34,000 internet customers, down 30,000 and 3,000, respectively, year-over-year.

The company reported its mobile phone churn rate — a metric measuring subscribers who cancelled their services — was 1.09 per cent in the third quarter, up from 1.03 per cent in the third quarter of 2023. That included a postpaid mobile phone churn rate of 0.90 per cent in its latest quarter.

Telus said its focus is on customer retention through its “industry-leading service and network quality, along with successful promotions and bundled offerings.”

“The customers we have are the most important customers we can get,” said chief financial officer Doug French in an interview.

“We’ve, again, just continued to focus on what matters most to our customers, from a product and customer service perspective, while not loading unprofitable customers.”

Meanwhile, Telus reported its net income attributable to common shares more than doubled during its third quarter.

The telecommunications company said it earned $280 million, up 105.9 per cent from the same three-month period in 2023. Earnings per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was 19 cents compared with nine cents a year earlier.

It reported adjusted net income was $413 million, up 10.7 per cent year-over-year from $373 million in the same quarter last year. Operating revenue and other income for the quarter was $5.1 billion, up 1.8 per cent from the previous year.

Mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.85 in the third quarter, a decrease of $2.09 or 3.4 per cent from a year ago. Telus said the drop was attributable to customers signing up for base rate plans with lower prices, along with a decline in overage and roaming revenues.

It said customers are increasingly adopting unlimited data and Canada-U.S. plans which provide higher and more stable ARPU on a monthly basis.

“In a tough operating environment and relative to peers, we view Q3 results that were in line to slightly better than forecast as the best of the bunch,” said RBC analyst Drew McReynolds in a note.

Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi added that “the telecom industry in Canada remains very challenging for all players, however, Telus has been able to face these pressures” and still deliver growth.

The Big 3 telecom providers — which also include Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. — have frequently stressed that the market has grown more competitive in recent years, especially after the closing of Quebecor Inc.’s purchase of Freedom Mobile in April 2023.

Hailed as a fourth national carrier, Quebecor has invested in enhancements to Freedom’s network while offering more affordable plans as part of a set of commitments it was mandated by Ottawa to agree to.

The cost of telephone services in September was down eight per cent compared with a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent inflation report last month.

“I think competition has been and continues to be, I’d say, quite intense in Canada, and we’ve obviously had to just manage our business the way we see fit,” said French.

Asked how long that environment could last, he said that’s out of Telus’ hands.

“What I can control, though, is how we go to market and how we lead with our products,” he said.

“I think the conditions within the market will have to adjust accordingly over time. We’ve continued to focus on digitization, continued to bring our cost structure down to compete, irrespective of the price and the current market conditions.”

Still, Canada’s telecom regulator continues to warn providers about customers facing more charges on their cellphone and internet bills.

On Tuesday, CRTC vice-president of consumer, analytics and strategy Scott Hutton called on providers to ensure they clearly inform their customers of charges such as early cancellation fees.

That followed statements from the regulator in recent weeks cautioning against rising international roaming fees and “surprise” price increases being found on their bills.

Hutton said the CRTC plans to launch public consultations in the coming weeks that will focus “on ensuring that information is clear and consistent, making it easier to compare offers and switch services or providers.”

“The CRTC is concerned with recent trends, which suggest that Canadians may not be benefiting from the full protections of our codes,” he said.

“We will continue to monitor developments and will take further action if our codes are not being followed.”

French said any initiative to boost transparency is a step in the right direction.

“I can’t say we are perfect across the board, but what I can say is we are absolutely taking it under consideration and trying to be the best at communicating with our customers,” he said.

“I think everyone looking in the mirror would say there’s room for improvement.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:T)

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TC Energy cuts cost estimate for Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico

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CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.

It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.

The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.

TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRP)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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BCE reports Q3 loss on asset impairment charge, cuts revenue guidance

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BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.

The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.

“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”

Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.

BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.

The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.

BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.

It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.

The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”

Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

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