With the acquisition of CTV all completed, Bell has just announced their Q1 earnings and revenues are up and customer acquisitions.
Bell Q1 2011 Earning Highlights:
- Bell Wireless operating revenues up 9.2%; EBITDA up 12.2%; EBITDA margins increase to over 40%
- Market-leading wireless postpaid net additions of 80,648; smartphones represent 55% of gross postpaid activations; Bell to launch next-generation LTE wireless network in certain markets this year
- Bell Wireline EBITDA growth of 4% driven by rigorous cost control; Fibe TV and Fibe Internet gain further traction; increased ARPU across residential services
- Smartphones represented 55% of gross activations in Q1 and now make up 34% of Bell’s postpaid customer base.
“Bell delivered market-leading performance in wireless, strong revenue growth in wireline Internet and TV services, and exceptional EBITDA growth – the highest in the industry and Bell’s best EBITDA growth rate in more than 8 years.” said George Cope, President and CEO of Bell Canada and BCE. “These results underscore the Bell team’s continued strong execution of our 5 Strategic Imperatives, leveraging our broadband network investments with leading TV, Internet and mobile smartphone services while ensuring rigorous and ongoing cost management – including a $90 million reduction in wireline operating costs year over year.”
“We also successfully closed our acquisition of CTV a full quarter ahead of schedule, supporting the increased 2011 financial guidance and the 5% dividend increase we’re announcing today. The increase is well aligned to our dividend growth model and driven by strong expected earnings accretion from CTV. With the launch of the new Bell Media business unit, we’ve quickly leveraged these superior content assets with enhanced Bell Mobile TV and Bell TV Online programming and the launch of TSN Radio,” said Mr. Cope. Bell also announced today that the CTV transaction valuation multiple improved to an 8.2x proportionate LTM EBITDA multiple at close compared to 9.6x when the transaction was originally announced.”
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