PR Newswire
MONTRÉAL, Aug. 3, 2017
This news release contains forward-looking statements. For a description of the related risk factors and assumptions please see the section entitled "Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" later in this release.
MONTRÉAL, Aug. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - BCE Inc. (TSX: BCE) (NYSE: BCE), Canada's largest communications company, today reported results for the second quarter (Q2) of 2017.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS | | | |
($ millions except per share amounts) (unaudited) | Q2 2017 | Q2 2016 | % change |
BCE | | | |
Operating revenues | 5,699 | 5,340 | 6.7% |
Net earnings | 811 | 830 | (2.3%) |
Net earnings attributable to common shareholders | 762 | 778 | (2.1%) |
Adjusted net earnings(1) | 792 | 824 | (3.9%) |
Adjusted EBITDA(2) | 2,381 | 2,268 | 5.0% |
EPS | 0.84 | 0.89 | (5.6%) |
Adjusted EPS(1) | 0.88 | 0.94 | (6.4%) |
Cash flows from operating activities | 2,154 | 1,890 | 14.0% |
Free cash flow(3) | 1,094 | 934 | 17.1% |
"Bell's strategy to lead Canadian investment and innovation in broadband networks and services continues to drive solid customer additions and financial performance across every communications business segment. We achieved exceptional growth in wireless as more Canadians take advantage of the best smartphones on the fastest national wireless network, our rapidly expanding all-fibre network delivered further gains in Fibe Internet and TV additions, and Bell Media continues to set the pace in Canadian multimedia as home of the best in entertainment, news, sports and music programming," said George Cope, President and CEO of BCE Inc. and Bell Canada. "We're keeping the momentum going with continued leadership in mobile LTE network speed and capability, ongoing television advancements including the groundbreaking Alt TV, and a growing leadership position in the Internet of Things and business data centre services."
"In Q2, the Bell team's focus on leading the way in breakthrough network and service innovations delivered strong growth in service revenue, positive adjusted EBITDA across our wireless, wireline and media segments, and a 17% increase in the free cash flow that fuels our unparalleled investments in broadband infrastructure, product development and new media. We were proud to welcome MTS to the national Bell team and very pleased with the strong contribution of Manitoba's #1 communications provider to our results as the new Bell MTS quickly integrated operations in Q2 and began the rollout of our billion-dollar broadband investment plan for the province."
Bell is focused on achieving a clear goal – to be recognized by customers as Canada's leading communications company – through the execution of 6 Strategic Imperatives: Invest in Broadband Networks & Services, Accelerate Wireless, Leverage Wireline Momentum, Expand Media Leadership, Improve Customer Service, and Achieve a Competitive Cost Structure. This broadband leadership strategy has delivered world-class fibre and wireless LTE networks; continued strong performance across wireless, TV, Internet and media growth services; 47 consecutive quarters of uninterrupted year-over-year adjusted EBITDA growth; and 13 increases to the BCE common share dividend since the end of 2008 – a total increase of 97%.
CORPORATE DEVELOPMENTS
For full details of BCE's corporate developments in the quarter, please refer to the BCE Q2 2017 Shareholder Report at BCE.ca.
Bell Mobility first in North America to offer Quad Band LTE-A network speeds
On April 20, Bell Mobility announced its network was the first in North America capable of delivering Quad Band LTE Advanced (LTE-A) service, offering customers the fastest mobile data speeds available. Combined with enhanced 256 QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) technology, Bell Quad Band delivers mobile data speeds of up to 750 Mbps, with expected average speeds of 25 to 220 Mbps in select areas. Bell's Quad Band service has now expanded to 47 markets in 8 provinces, with Corner Brook, Glace Bay, Kingston Village, Bedford, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Oakville, Waterloo and Sudbury recently joining the 38 Quad Band centres announced in July. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are the first devices able to take advantage of these network speeds with more Quad Band capable smartphones coming soon.
Wireless network innovation in the quarter also included a unique partnership between Bell Mobility and Bell Media's Astral Out of Home (AOOH) to further enhance LTE network capacity in high-traffic Greater Toronto Area locations with the addition of mini wireless sites, known as microcells, on Astral advertising signage in 10 GTA locations. In its deployment of Bell Quad Band network capability at Toronto's BMO Field, home of the Toronto Argonauts and Toronto FC, Bell Mobility also became the first Canadian wireless provider to employ aerial drones to optimize network speed and capacity in large venues.
Virgin Mobile Canada ranked #1 in customer care
Virgin Mobile Canada was ranked highest in overall customer care satisfaction in the J.D. Power 2017 Canadian Wireless Customer Care Study, announced in May. More than 5,500 Canadian wireless customers responded to the online survey, with Virgin coming out on top in the comparison of 9 Canadian wireless brands. Virgin scored 801 points on the 1,000-point J.D. Power scale, with standout performance in the store, call centre and online service categories.
Alt TV from Bell, an all-new way to watch live TV
On May 15, Bell launched Alt TV, a new way to watch live and on-demand television that does not require a traditional TV set-top box. Like Bell's Fibe TV service, Alt TV operates as a licensed broadcast distribution service on the privately managed Bell Fibe broadband network for in-home viewing, and on mobile or Wi-Fi networks outside the home. With a select Fibe Internet package and the powerful Fibe TV app, Alt TV customers in Ontario and Québec can access up to 500 live and on-demand channels on laptops, smartphones, tablets and Apple TV 4th Generation. In another Bell television advancement, Fibe TV customers in Ontario and Québec can now watch their Personal Video Recorder (PVR) recordings on smartphones, tablets and laptops with the Fibe TV app.
In June, the Fiber Broadband Association named Bell the 2017 winner of its Star Award alongside Verizon and Google Fiber for "going above and beyond" in taking fibre connections directly to Canadian homes and businesses. Already the largest in Canada, Bell's fibre to the home (FTTH) network is expected to reach more than 3.7 million residential and business locations by the end of 2017.
Internet of Things leadership
Bell continues to make significant strides in the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) sector. In June, Bell and Hyundai AutoEver Telematics America (HATA), a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, announced a range of connected telematics services for select 2018 Hyundai and Kia vehicles including security, safety, diagnostics and infotainment options.
Bell also announced in June plans to deploy LTE-M network capability enabling IoT devices on wide-area networks. LTE-M improves the operating efficiency of IoT devices with very low power consumption and offers enhanced coverage in underground and other hard to reach locations. Bell successfully demonstrated its first LTE-M application with Canadian development partner BeWhere Inc., an asset tracking and monitoring application that provides paramedics and other EMS personnel with real-time location of emergency equipment. LTE-M will support a broad range of large-scale IoT solutions, including smart city services, smart metering, asset tracking, supply chain management, security and alarm monitoring, transportation and logistics, and personal wearables for healthcare, accessibility and other applications.
In May, Bell MTS contributed $500,000 to the University of Manitoba to launch the Bell MTS Innovations in Agriculture program, providing students with opportunities to develop new IoT technologies for application in agriculture and food science.
CTV is Canada's most-watched network for 16th year in a row
CTV ended the 2016/2017 television season as the most-watched Canadian TV network in primetime for the 16th year in a row, according to Numeris. In June at the CTV Upfront event, Bell Media presented the network's 2017/2018 schedule featuring 17 new primetime series and 11 returning top 20 series. Other highlights include a major expansion of local news programming with weekday newscasts at 5 pm across CTV local stations nationwide; expanded exclusive National Football League television rights, including the addition of Thursday night games, together with associated digital rights for all Bell Media NFL broadcasts, and television's biggest slate of live event programming, including Super Bowl LII, the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the 90th Academy Awards, the 75th Golden Globe Awards, the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, the 2017 American Music Awards, the 2018 Billboard Music Awards and the 2018 iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards.
Bell Media also announced a strategic partnership in June with Wow Unlimited Media to produce original children and youth programming for use across Bell Media platforms including CraveTV and Bell Media's new SnackableTV, a free mobile app featuring short clips from pay and specialty channels and popular Bell Media programs.
Bell Let's Talk expands in Manitoba
Bell Let's Talk and Unifor announced in May a donation totalling $200,000 to Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre and the Canadian Mental Health Association to launch Strengthening Wellness Education to Love Life (SWELL). Delivering culturally relevant mental health programs to Indigenous youth and their families throughout Manitoba, SWELL will also engage youth in an annual Indigenous Youth Summit to increase their voice in mental health services.
BCE RESULTS
"Continued focus on our strategic imperatives in Q2, together with the contribution of Bell MTS, delivered strong financial performance this quarter, supporting significant ongoing capital investment in broadband fibre and advanced wireless network infrastructure to drive greater future subscriber growth," said Glen LeBlanc, Chief Financial Officer for BCE and Bell. "Consistent and disciplined execution across all Bell operating segments has delivered strong wireless profitability, positive wireline adjusted EBITDA growth and a solid media financial profile through the first half of the year, keeping us right on track to meet our 2017 guidance targets."
BCE operating revenue was up 6.7% in Q2 to $5,699 million. This was driven mainly by 7.0% growth in service revenue, reflecting increases at both Bell Wireless and Bell Wireline, which included contributions from our acquisition of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) completed on March 17, as well as higher year-over-year revenue at Bell Media. Product revenue grew 3.4% to $364 million, the result of increased sales of premium mobile devices and a greater number of wireless customer transactions.
Net earnings decreased 2.3% to $811 million in Q2 while net earnings attributable to common shareholders totalled $762 million, or $0.84 per share, down 2.1% and 5.6% respectively, due to increased net depreciation and amortization expense, higher interest expense and lower other income. The increase in BCE's average number of common shares outstanding, due to the shares issued for the equity component of the MTS acquisition, further contributed to earnings per share dilution this quarter. Excluding severance, acquisition and other costs, net losses or gains on investments, impairment charges and early debt redemption costs, adjusted net earnings decreased 3.9% in Q2 to $792 million, or $0.88 per common share.
BCE's adjusted EBITDA grew 5.0% to $2,381 million in Q2, driven by increases of 10.2% at Bell Wireless and 2.6% at Bell Wireline, which reflected Bell MTS's financial contribution in the quarter. Bell Media adjusted EBITDA remained essentially stable, year over year, increasing 0.4% to $224 million.
BCE's consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin(2) decreased to 41.8% in Q2 from 42.5% last year as the flow-through of strong wireless service revenue growth was more than offset by higher wireless postpaid subscriber acquisition and retention spending, ongoing aggressive competitive service bundle promotions in residential wireline, increased media content costs, and the margin impact from the continuing decline in legacy voice services. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA and margin performance in Q2 also reflected the unfavourable year-over-year impact of CRTC decisions related to wholesale Internet tariffs and customer cancellation refunds, which, in aggregate, totalled approximately $25 million in the quarter.
BCE's total consolidated capital expenditures increased to $1,042 million, up 9.7% from Q2 last year, representing a higher capital intensity(4) ratio (capital expenditures as a percentage of total revenue) of 18.3% compared to 17.8% in Q2 2016. The increase was due mainly to continued investment in deploying broadband fibre directly to more homes and businesses, including the build-out of Gigabit Fibe infrastructure in Toronto and other urban locations; expansion of Bell's industry-leading LTE-A network; increased wireless network speeds through carrier aggregation; deployment of small-cell technology to optimize mobile coverage, signal quality and data capacity; and enhanced wireless and Internet network capacity to support subscriber growth and rapid growth in video and other data usage. Higher capital expenditures in the quarter also reflect investment in Manitoba to improve network coverage, capacity and speeds, and the integration of MTS accounting and billing systems with Bell's.
BCE cash flows from operating activities were $2,154 million, up 14.0% from $1,890 million in Q2 2016, the result of higher adjusted EBITDA and a positive change in working capital. BCE free cash flow generated this quarter was $1,094 million, 17.1% higher than Q2 of last year, driven by increased cash flows from operating activities excluding acquisition and other costs paid, partly offset by higher capital expenditures.
In Q2, BCE reported 88,611 net new wireless postpaid customers, a net loss of 21,695 wireless prepaid subscribers; 16,427 net new Fibe TV customers, and a net loss of 29,764 satellite TV customers; and 1,407 net new high-speed Internet customers. NAS line net losses totalled 94,959. At the end of Q2, total BCE customer connections across all services totalled 21,923,299, up 4.8% from the year before. The total includes 8,901,291 wireless customers, up 7.5% over last year (including 8,126,264 postpaid customers, an increase of 8.8%); total high-speed Internet subscribers of 3,718,677, up 8.8%; total TV subscribers of 2,824,016, up 2.7% (including 1,481,434 Fibe TV customers, an increase of 17.0%); and total NAS lines of 6,479,315, an increase of 0.04%.
BCE OPERATING RESULTS BY SEGMENT
Bell Wireless
Bell Wireless delivered another excellent quarter of financial performance, highlighted by revenue growth of 12.9% to $1,959 million, up from $1,735 million in Q2 2016. Service revenue increased 12.8% to $1,828 million, the result of strong postpaid subscriber base growth, higher blended average revenue per user (ARPU)(4) and a full quarter of contribution from Bell MTS. Product revenue was up 13.9% to $131 million, as a result of higher sales of premium mobile devices and more customer transactions.
Wireless adjusted EBITDA in Q2 grew 10.2% to $851 million, on strong double-digit service revenue growth from an increased mix of higher-value postpaid subscribers in our overall customer base and price discipline. Service revenue margin decreased to 46.6% from 47.7% in Q2 2016, due to a $75 million year-over-year increase in total combined retention spending and subscriber acquisition costs which, together with the incremental expense contribution of Bell MTS, drove operating cost growth of 15.1% in the quarter.
Bell Wireline
Wireline operating revenue growth accelerated this quarter, increasing 4.8% over Q2 2016 to $3,121 million on a 5.3% increase in service revenue to $2,883 million driven by broadband Internet and IPTV subscriber base growth together with higher household ARPU, improved business service revenue performance supported by the acquisition of data centre operator Q9 Networks (Q9), and a full quarter of financial contribution from the MTS acquisition. This was moderated by approximately $22 million in unfavourable year-over-year regulatory-related financial impacts this quarter from downward revisions to wholesale Internet tariffs and refunds for cancelled services mandated by the CRTC, as well as a 0.8% decrease in product revenue to $238 million.
Wireline adjusted EBITDA increased 2.6% to $1,306 million in Q2, reflecting the flow-through of strong service revenue growth as operating costs increased 6.4% to $1,815 million, mainly reflecting the acquisitions of MTS and Q9, higher marketing expenses to support residential subscriber acquisition and retention, and higher customer service support costs. Wireline adjusted EBITDA margin decreased 0.9 percentage points in Q2 to 41.8%, due largely to CRTC-related regulatory impacts and higher year-over-year operating costs. Excluding regulatory impacts, wireline adjusted EBITDA was up 4.3% in the quarter.
Bell Media
Media operating revenue totalled $796 million, up 2.2% from $779 million in Q2 2016, on higher advertising and subscriber revenues.
Advertising revenue increased, despite continued soft TV and radio advertising markets, as a result of growth in outdoor advertising at AOOH and higher year-over-year revenues from Bell Media's English specialty entertainment channels and digital properties. Subscriber revenue increased modestly on higher revenues from CraveTV and TV Everywhere GO products.
Media adjusted EBITDA was up 0.4% to $224 million, from $223 million in Q2 2016, due to higher year-over-year revenue that more than offset a 2.9% increase in operating costs attributable to CraveTV programming expansion, HBO and SHOWTIME content growth, and increased costs at AOOH due to both acquisitions and new outdoor advertising contract wins over the past year.
COMMON SHARE DIVIDEND
BCE's Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.7175 per common share, payable on October 15, 2017 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 15, 2017.
OUTLOOK FOR 2017
BCE confirmed its financial guidance targets for 2017, as updated on April 26, 2017 to reflect the acquisition of MTS, as follows:
| April 26 Guidance | August 3 Guidance |
Revenue growth | 4% – 6% | On track |
Adjusted EBITDA growth | 4% – 6% | On track |
Capital intensity | approx. 17% | On track |
Adjusted EPS | $3.30 – $3.40 | On track |
Free cash flow growth | approx. 5% – 10% | On track |
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