Payments to workers hits Telus earnings, subscribers up
TORONTO — Telus Corp.’s fourthquarter profit fell 69 per cent compared with the same period in 2015 partly because of a $305-million, one-time, lump-sum payment the company made to employees.
The payments were in lieu of wage and salary increases for a 30-month period through to the end of 2018.
The Vancouver-based company said its net income attributable to common shares was $81 million or 14 cents per share, down from $261 million or 44 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Excluding the specialty payments and certain other items, Telus says its adjusted earnings fell 2.5 per cent to $316 million or 53 cents per share from $324 million or 54 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Overall revenue grew by 2.7 per cent to $3.31 billion from $3.22 billion.
Telus, like the other Big Three telecommunications companies in Canada, added more new net wireless postpaid subscribers — typically those on contracts — in its past quarter than analysts expected.
The company added 87,000 such subscribers in the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with 62,000 additions in the same quarter a year earlier.
Analysts anticipated a 74,000 customer increase, according to Drew McReynolds, an RBC Dominion Securities analyst.
However, Telus lagged behind its competitors Rogers Communications and BCE Inc., which added 93,000 and 112,393 such customers respectively.
“It’s nice to see,” said president and CEO Darren Entwistle in a call with analysts of the industry-wide larger-than-anticipated growth.
Some of the factors behind it include a growing Canadian population thanks to immigration, more people owning more than one phone and more tablets coming into play, he said.
Telus also added 24,000 highspeed Internet subscribers and 16,000 TV subscribers.
The Telus wireless business accounted for $1.7 billion of revenue, up 5.4 per cent from a year earlier.
Wireline revenue was $1.5 billion, up 1.3 per cent as it was helped by high-speed Internet subscriber growth.