Shaw Communications executives said Thursday that the Freedom Mobile service won’t meet its 2020 target for growing its subscriber base because the COVID-19 crisis has kept stores closed and customers distracted, but they said the lost revenue will be offset by lower operating costs during the coming months.
The comments came in a conference call to discuss the Calgary-based company’s results for the second quarter, which ended Feb. 29, just prior to the official declaration of a global pandemic and unprecedented social-distancing measures designed to slow and reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The quarter also ended before Saudi Arabia began a global price war that dropped the price of crude oil, a major source of revenue for Shaw’s customers.
“While we generally feel very comfortable that we can manage through this crisis, it is difficult, if not impossible to accurately or precisely predict the impacts on Shaw,” chief financial officer Trevor English told analysts.
Like other companies across Canada, Shaw and Freedom have closed their retail stores in response to official demands to avoid or limit activities that could move the virus through the community by person-to-person contacts.
English said that Freedom customers “are simply not making decisions to switch or alter their services during this time” and Shaw expects its wireline businesses will also experience “considerably muted” activity for “a period of time.”
He said some of Shaw’s business and residential subscribers may select less expensive packages or cut some services amid “increased difficulty for some customers to pay their bills.”
However, English said those lost revenues will be manageable given Shaw’s financial strength and the importance of its communications and entertainment services while most Canadians are conducting work and school from home.
The company said it will preserve cash by suspending a share buyback program that had cost Shaw about $130 million as of the end of March, but it will continue to maintain its dividend payments to shareholders.
During the fiscal second quarter ended Feb. 29, net income, revenue and free cash flow were up compared with a year earlier.
Net income was $167 million, or 32 cents per share, up from $154 million or 30 cents per share; Revenue was up 3.7 per cent to $1.36 billion from $1.32 billion. And free cash flow, which is the amount of cash available after servicing short-term debt obligations, was up 20 per cent to $191 million.
MTY Food Group Inc. says its profit and revenue both slid in its most recent quarter.
The restaurant franchisor and operator says its net income attributable to owners totalled $34.9 million in its third quarter, compared with $38.9 million a year earlier.
The results for the period ended Aug. 31 amounted to $1.46 per diluted share, down from $1.59 per diluted share a year prior.
The company behind 90 brands including Manchu Wok and Mr. Sub attributed the fall to impairment charges on property, plants and equipment along with intangibles assets.
Its revenue decreased slightly to $292.8 million in the quarter from $298 million a year ago.
While CEO Eric Lefebvre saw the quarter as a sign that the company’s ongoing restructuring is starting to bear fruits, he said the business was also hampered by significant delays in construction and permitting that resulted in fewer locations opening.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
Taiga Motors Corp. says the Superior Court of Québec has approved its sale to a British electric boat entrepreneur.
The Montreal-based maker of snowmobiles and watercraft says it will be purchased by Stewart Wilkinson.
Wilkinson’s family office is behind marine electrification brands that include Vita, Evoy, and Aqua superPower.
Wilkinson and Taiga did not reveal the terms or value of the deal but say Wilkinson will assume Taiga’s debt to Export Development Canada and has committed to funding Taiga’s business plan.
The companies say the transaction will allow them to achieve greater economies of scale and deliver high-performance products at compelling prices to accelerate the electric transition.
The sale comes months after Taiga sought bankruptcy protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act to cope with a cash crunch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
Toronto-Dominion Bank is facing fines totalling about US$3.09 billion from U.S. regulators in connection with failures of its anti-money laundering safeguards.
The bank also received a cease-and-desist order and non-financial sanctions from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that put limits on its growth in the U.S. after it was found that TD had “significant, systemic breakdowns in its transaction monitoring program.”
