Bell revenues up, profits down as company releases Q2 numbers

BCE Inc. announced revenues of $5.86 billion for the second quarter of 2022 Thursday, a jump of 2.9 per cent over the figures for a year ago. Net earnings declined 10.9 per cent over the same period, to $654 million. Bell attributed the fall to higher expenses, higher depreciation and amortization and higher severance, acquisition and other costs. On a Thursday morning earnings call, Bell CEO Mirko Bibic also took a shot at Rogers Communications Inc. over its July service outage. “Recent events have illustrated the vital importance of communications networks and the role they play as an integral part in the lives of all Canadians’” the executive told analysts. “They have also illustrated the relevance of our corporate purpose which as you know is to advance how Canadians connect with each other and the world.” Bell's wireless division posted 9.6 million subscribers on June 30, 2022, an increase of 4.2 per cent compared to a year ago.Revenues were up 5.5 per cent to $2.25 billion Four million people subscribed to Bell’s high-speed internet service, a jump of 6.1 per cent or 22,620 subscribers. Wireline revenues were just shy of $3 billion, a slight drip of 0.3 per cent from 2021. There were 3,838 new subscribers to IPTV, bringing the total number of customers to 2.7 million, an increase of 0.2 per cent. Mobile phone blended average revenue per user (ARPU) went up 3.8 per cent from Q2 2021 to this year. This time a year ago it sat at $57.36; the second quarter of 2022 posted a number of $59.54 Bell Media revenues increased by 8.7 per cent from $755 million in 2021 to $821 million in 2022. CFO Glen LeBlanc told an investors’ conference call that the company expects to save on real estate going forward, as workers adapt to a hybrid working environment. He also said that roaming figures for wireless were now at about 89 per cent of where they were pre-pandemic. Outside analysts were pleased with the results. Aravinda Galappatthige of Canaccord Genuity said that both wireless growth and internet trends beat estimates. Drew McReynolds of RBC Dominion Securities was also hopeful “We view Q2/22 underlying financial results as in line with expectations with slightly better KPIs and indicative of a recovering wireless market post-COVID-19 as well as continued FTTH momentum,” he wrote. “2022 guidance was reiterated as expected. We view results as neutral for the shares at current levels.” One section of the BCE report dealt with the regulatory environment. The telecom cited such developments as the proposed policy direction to the Telecommunications Act; Bill C-26, the cyber security act; Bill C-11, amending the Broadcasting Act; Bill C-18, the online news act and the CRTC’s review of the regulatory framework for Bell’s Northwestel subsidiary. In each case, the company said the impact of the moves is unclear at this time. Last year’s Q2 results dealt with the subject of the government’s auction of spectrum in the 3500 band. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Bell revenues up, profits down as company releases Q2 numbers

News | August 4, 2022

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Bell revenues up, profits down as company releases Q2 numbers

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