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Quarterly Report
Consolidated Rogers Revenue Grows 13% to $2.7 Billion, Adjusted Operating Profit Increases 25% to $957 Million, and Net Income Increases 44% to $254 Million;
Wireless Postpaid ARPU Grows 6% and Postpaid Churn Falls to 1.17%, While
Cable Maintains Strong Net Additions of Revenue Generating Units
TORONTO - Rogers Communications Inc. announced its consolidated financial and operating results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2007.
Highlights of the fourth quarter of 2007 include the following:
- Generated continued strong double-digit growth in quarterly revenue
and adjusted operating profit of 13% and 25%, respectively, while net
income increased 44% to $254 million, (or by 57% to $302 million on
an adjusted basis).
- Wireless subscriber postpaid net additions were 158,000, while
postpaid subscriber monthly churn fell to 1.17% versus 1.24% in the
fourth quarter of 2006. Wireless postpaid monthly ARPU (average
revenue per user) increased 6% year-over-year to $73.33 driven in
part by the 48% growth in data revenue to $192 million, or 14.1% of
network revenue.
- Wireless announced that its High-Speed Packet Access ("HSPA") network
and related new advanced services were available in 25 markets across
the country, representing approximately 58% of the Canadian
population. Rogers' HSPA network, the fastest wireless network in
Canada, operates on a next generation wireless protocol which
significantly increases download speeds on wireless devices,
providing a user experience similar to broadband high-speed services.
- Cable ended the quarter with 656,000 residential voice-over-cable
telephony subscriber lines. Net additions of voice-over-cable
telephony lines were 65,000 for the quarter, of which approximately
2,000 were migrations from the circuit-switched platform.
- Cable's Internet subscriber base grew by 46,000 in the quarter to
1,465,000, while basic cable subscribers increased by 20,000 to
2,295,000 and digital cable households increased by 61,000 to reach
1,353,000.
- Cable entered into a renegotiated agreement with Yahoo! that will
eliminate monthly per subscriber fees and see both companies work
jointly on advertising revenue opportunities leveraging Rogers' high-
speed Internet access portal and subscriber base. In connection with
this new agreement, Rogers made a one-time payment to Yahoo!, and
Cable's cost of providing its Internet service will be reduced
over the four year term of the new agreement.
- Media closed the acquisition of five Citytv television stations on
October 31, 2007. This acquisition gives Media a significantly
enhanced broadcast television presence in the largest Canadian
markets outside of Quebec and is a natural complement to Media's
existing television, radio and specialty channel assets.
- Subsequent to the end of the fourth quarter, on January 7, 2008,
Rogers' Board of Directors approved an increase in the annual
dividend from $0.50 to $1.00 per share to be paid in quarterly
amounts of $0.25 per share effective with its next quarterly
dividend. At the same time, Rogers also announced a Normal Course
Issuer Bid ("NCIB") to repurchase up to the lesser of 15 million of
its Class B Non-Voting shares and that number of Class B Non-Voting
shares that can be purchased under the NCIB for an aggregate purchase
price of $300 million.
"2007 was a year of continued solid growth in customers, revenues and cash
flow while at the same time we further deleveraged our balance sheet,
simplified our corporate structure and laid the groundwork for returning
increasing amounts of cash to our shareholders," said Ted Rogers, President
and CEO of Rogers Communications Inc. "While we have much to do in continuing
to reinforce our services and systems, I am confident that we are
exceptionally well positioned to carry on our growth and success in 2008 and
beyond."
This earnings release should be read in conjunction with our 2006 Annual
MD&A and our 2006 Annual Audited Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes
thereto, as well as our 2007 quarterly interim financial and other recent
securities filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. As this earnings
release includes forward-looking statements and assumptions, readers should
carefully review the sections of this release entitled "Caution Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements, Risks and Assumptions".
In this release, the terms "we", "us", "our", "Rogers" and "the Company"
refer to Rogers Communications Inc. and our subsidiaries, which are reported
in the following segments:
- "Wireless", which refers to our wireless communications operations,
including Rogers Wireless Partnership ("RWP") and Fido Solutions Inc.
("Fido");
- "Cable" (formerly "Cable and Telecom"), which refers to our wholly
owned cable television subsidiaries, including Rogers Cable
Communications Inc. ("RCCI"). In January 2007, we completed an
internal reorganization whereby the Cable and Internet and Rogers
Home Phone segments were combined into one segment known as Cable
Operations. As a result, beginning in 2007, the Cable segment
consists of the following segments: Cable Operations, Rogers Business
Solutions ("RBS") and Rogers Retail. Comparative figures have been
reclassified to reflect this new segmented reporting;
- "Media", which refers to our wholly owned subsidiary Rogers Media
Inc. and its subsidiaries, including: Rogers Broadcasting, which owns
Rogers Sportsnet, a group of AM and FM Radio stations, OMNI
television, The Biography Channel Canada, G4TechTV Canada, and The
Shopping Channel; Rogers Publishing; and Rogers Sports Entertainment,
which owns the Toronto Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre. Media also
holds ownership interests in entities involved in specialty TV
content, TV production and broadcast sales. In addition, the
operating results of Citytv are included in Media's results of
operations from the date of acquisition on October 31, 2007.
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