Quebecor Inc. reported its first-quarter profit totalled $121.3 million, down from $131.6 million a year ago.

MONTREAL—Quebecor Inc. reported its first-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as its revenue climbed higher, helped by gains in its telecommunications business and recent acquisitions.

The Montreal-based company said Thursday that its net income attributable to shareholders totalled $121.3 million or 49 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31, down from a profit of $131.6 million or 52 cents per share a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $1.09 billion, up from nearly $1.06 billion in the first quarter last year.

“We’re off to a good start in 2021, despite the challenges created by the public health situation, which continues to impact some of our business segments,” said Pierre Karl Péladeau, Quebecor’s president and chief executive, in a release.

His company’s adjusted income from continuing operating activities totalled 52 cents per share in the quarter, up from 44 cents per share in the first quarter of 2020.

Its telecommunications revenue rose to $914 million in the quarter, up from $874.7 million a year ago.

Meanwhile, Quebecor’s media revenue held steady at $174.8 million, while sports and entertainment revenue fell to $31.2 million compared with $34.8 million in the same quarter last year. The quarter was boosted by Quebecor’s acquisition of Les Disques Audiogramme Inc., an independent Frenchlanguage record label, in February.

A day after the quarter ended, Quebecor’s Vidéotron subsidiary announced it would spend again. This time it was buyin Cablovision Warwick Inc., a telecommunications company serving the Warwick, Kingsey Falls and St-Félix-de-Kingsey regions in the Centre du Quebec for more than four decades.