Quebecor saw its net income jump by $ 34.7 million in the last quarter to reach $ 174.9 million, as Bell took it for its cold with COVID-19.
The Quebec telecoms giant on Thursday unveiled revenues of $ 1 billion, down 5% from the 2e quarter 2019. The Videotron subsidiary saw a sharp increase in its revenues, in terms of equipment sales ($ 22.5 million, or 43.8%) and mobile telephony ($ 13.3 million, or 9 , 1%).
“In the difficult context of COVID-19, Quebecor has demonstrated the excellence of its operational and financial management with quarterly growth superior to the major national players,” said the CEO of the company, Pierre Karl Péladeau.
“We feel a certain panic on the part of our competitors, because our results for the second quarter are very good, for his part argued the CEO of Videotron, Jean-François Pruneau, during a call with financial analysts. The competition is very competitive on price, but that’s not the way we [attire] new customers. ”
For TVA Group, revenues are down sharply. The media sector saw its sales decline by $ 57.4 million (-30.2%), and sports and entertainment lost $ 15.4 million. However, net profits were slightly better than in the second quarter of 2019. TVA Group’s market share also increased. LCN was the driving force behind this increase: its shares rose 5.1% to 10.6%. It is the most listened to specialty channel in Quebec.
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Tumble at Bell
The situation is less rosy at Bell. Revenue fell 9% to $ 5.35 billion. Profits fell 64%, from $ 817 million to $ 294 million.
Still, BCE believes it has a solid foundation for growth, said Chief Financial Officer Glen LeBlanc.
This mixed performance did not surprise most analysts.
“We continue to see significant risks in BCE’s future results due to the pandemic, given that it has the largest exposure to corporate income in the industry and a [place] significant [dans l’industrie des] media […]», Commented analyst Maher Yaghi of Desjardins.
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