Rogers Communications saw its stock price rise more than 3 per cent on Wednesday as it reported its first-quarter gains.CARLOS OSORIO/Reuters
Rogers Communications Inc. RCI-B-T chair Edward Rogers is crediting the company’s new CEO, Tony Staffieri, for “strong signs of improvement” as the telecom reports higher first-quarter profit and revenue and an improved outlook for the year.
Canada’s largest wireless carrier saw its stock price rise more than 3 per cent on Wednesday as it reported its first-quarter gains, driven by a jump in new wireless customers and improvements in the economy.
“Since Tony’s appointment as CEO, Tony and the management team have already made a substantial difference, and our shareholders are showing their support,” Mr. Rogers said during the company’s annual meeting on Wednesday, adding that the stock price is up “a staggering 28 per cent” in the five months since Mr. Staffieri took the helm. Mr. Rogers also praised Mr. Staffieri for taking significant steps toward closing the $26-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc., including lining up the financing.
Mr. Staffieri took over the top job last November. A public battle for control of the wireless carrier resulted in the Toronto-based telecom’s previous chief executive officer, Joe Natale, being ousted after Mr. Rogers replaced five of the company’s directors. The move met opposition from his mother, Loretta Rogers, and sisters Martha Rogers and Melinda Rogers-Hixon.
But it was Ms. Rogers-Hixon, during Wednesday’s annual meeting, who nominated all of the company’s directors for election, including the five individuals whose appointments to the board she had opposed last fall. Rogers also added two new directors to its board on Wednesday: Loretta’s nephew, David Robinson, and Ryerson University president and vice-chancellor Mohamed Lachemi.
Earlier in the day, during a conference call to discuss the telecom and media giant’s financial results, Mr. Staffieri outlined the company’s three priorities: “Better execution across our three businesses, increasing our investments in our networks and customer service, and continuing our extensive efforts to successfully complete the Shaw transaction in the first half of 2022.
“I’m pleased to say we made progress in each of these areas in the first quarter,” he added.
The price of Rogers’ class B shares rose more than 3 per cent on the Toronto Stock Exchange, closing at $76.07. The rally came after the telecom reported $392-million in profit for the three-month period ended March 31, up 9 per cent from a year ago, and raised its projections for service revenue and adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for the year. The earnings amounted to 78 cents per share, up from 71 cents per share. After adjusting for certain items, the earnings came to 91 cents per share, up from 78 cents.
Its revenue for the quarter came to $3.62-billion, an increase of 4 per cent from $3.49-billion during the same quarter last year.
Analysts had been expecting revenue of $3.63-billion and adjusted earnings of 83 cents per share, according to the consensus estimate from S&P Capital IQ.
Bank of Nova Scotia analyst Jeff Fan called the results better than he had expected, adding that the business benefited from “a healthy wireless market, stable competition and execution.”
Desjardins analyst Jérome Dubreuil said the cable business reported “surprisingly strong margins.”
“Management cited a price increase, lower content-related costs and lower people-related costs for the higher margins,” Mr. Dubreuil said in a note to clients.
Rogers, which is awaiting regulatory approval of its takeover of Shaw Communications, added 66,000 net new postpaid mobile phone customers during the quarter. That’s up from 22,000 net new postpaid subscribers during the first quarter of 2021.
The telecom lost 16,000 prepaid mobile phone customers during the quarter, compared with a loss of 56,000 a year ago. Postpaid subscribers are those who are billed at the end of the month for the services they used, versus prepaid customers, who pay upfront for wireless services.
Rogers is continuing to work toward completing its takeover of Shaw and expects the deal to close during the second quarter, Mr. Staffieri said.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has approved the takeover with some conditions. The Competition Bureau and the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development are still reviewing the merger.
Mr. Staffieri told analysts that Rogers is working with Ottawa to meet the government’s objective of encouraging wireless competition through the existence of a strong fourth wireless carrier.
On Tuesday, The Globe reported that Rogers has presented the federal government with a deal for rural internet provider Xplornet Communications Inc. to acquire Shaw’s Freedom Mobile, Canada’s fourth-largest wireless provider.
Mr. Staffieri declined to comment when asked by a financial analyst about the Xplornet deal. “There’s not a lot we can say, given the transaction is in front of the government bodies,” he said.
Mr. Rogers thanked several directors during the annual meeting, including his mother for her “enormous contribution” to the company over five decades as a director, as well as former chief financial officer Alan Horn, and Phil Lind, a trusted adviser to Mr. Rogers’s late father, company founder Ted Rogers. Mr. Horn and Mr. Lind supported Mr. Rogers during the recent boardroom battle.
Mr. Rogers also thanked Robert Gemmell, the lead director, calling him “a pillar of strength for corporate governance and for continuing to put the voices of all shareholders first.”
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The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the country’s merchandise trade deficit narrowed to $1.3 billion in September as imports fell more than exports.
The result compared with a revised deficit of $1.5 billion for August. The initial estimate for August released last month had shown a deficit of $1.1 billion.
Statistics Canada says the results for September came as total exports edged down 0.1 per cent to $63.9 billion.
Exports of metal and non-metallic mineral products fell 5.4 per cent as exports of unwrought gold, silver, and platinum group metals, and their alloys, decreased 15.4 per cent. Exports of energy products dropped 2.6 per cent as lower prices weighed on crude oil exports.
Meanwhile, imports for September fell 0.4 per cent to $65.1 billion as imports of metal and non-metallic mineral products dropped 12.7 per cent.
In volume terms, total exports rose 1.4 per cent in September while total imports were essentially unchanged in September.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
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