MONTREAL – While things on the cable side of the ledger are clipping along nicely, Cogeco Inc. is now reviewing its options when it comes to Television Quatre Saisons, the Quebec broadcaster it owns with CTVglobemedia.
TQS is perennially the third-place network and compared to the company’s cable operations in Canada and Portugal, a small part of the Cogeco puzzle, but because of a challenging TV ad market in Quebec, its owners (Cogeco has 60%, CTVglobemedia, 40%) have retained CIBC World Markets “to assist in assessing the strategic options available to them in connection with TQS,” says the press release.
In the company’s conference call with financial analysts today, Cogeco president and CEO Louis Audet wouldn’t say if he was going to try and sell the broadcaster, which has also been told by Radio-Canada (French CBC) that the SRC affiliation in effect for three TQS twin stick local stations in Saguenay, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivieres will end on March 31, 2009.
As for the company’s financials (the cable division’s announced Friday, can be found here), consolidated revenue grew by 35.1% to $269.3 million and by 43.4% to $1,071.1 million respectively.
Consolidated operating income before amortization rose by 43% to $98.2 million and by 44.5% reaching $365.7 million. Consolidated net income rose by $20.1 million reaching $30.4 million and free cash flow grew by $7.8 million to $4.2 million. For fiscal 2007, consolidated net income grew by more than three times reaching $74.7 million and free cash flow stood at $19.4 million.
In the company’s radio division, 93.3 radio station in Quebec City announced the arrival of new hosts, Gilles Parent and Martin Pouliot; the RYTHME FM network continues to lead in the Montreal market, with a strong fall programming line-up; and the company joined forces with Corus Entertainment to create a new company, called Groupe Force Radio that will combine the two media companies’ national radio sales teams. This new company will represent a total of 30 radio stations in Quebec and will give the two companies a stronger presence against a now much larger Astral Media Radio.
“Cogeco’s fourth quarter is very positive. In the cable sector, we are well positioned to continue to address the needs of our various customer segments. During the year, the financial markets have recognized the relevance of our acquisition strategy outside Canada and our stock price has grown from $23 to $38 between August 2006 and 2007. The new structure we implemented in Canada will enable our Canadian operations to develop increased synergy and will impact favorably the way in which we deliver our services. We are looking forward to achieving a strong fiscal 2008 in this sector. In the media sector, we will strive to attract more audience for our radio stations and assess promptly the strategic options available for our television stations," said Audet, in the press release.
