Shaw Reports Quarterly Loss After Slashing Corus Investment Value

Calgary-based Shaw Communications has reported a quarterly loss of $91-million or 18 cents a share in its fiscal third quarter, which ended May 31, as it slashed the value of its investment in Corus Entertainment, The Globe and Mail reports. The company had reported a profit of $133-million in the same period last year.

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On the other hand, Shaw’s Freedom Mobile division added 54,200 new wireless customers on contracts in the quarter. In the second quarter however, Freedom had added 93,200 new wireless subscribers. Nonetheless, Freedom remains Shaw’s main source of growth and revenue as the wireless division surged by 54%.

Freedom Mobile, which operates in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, and started offering the iPhone last year, has increased its average revenue per user by 7.5% year-over-year to $39.84 per month.

Overall revenue at Shaw increased by 6.9 per cent to $1.3-billion, slightly below forecasts, while operating income (before restructuring costs and amortization) grew by 7 per cent to $547-million, meeting estimates.

“Good wireless results weighed down by weakness in wireline subscriber loading,” was how Desjardins Securities analyst Maher Yaghi described the quarter in a note to clients Thursday morning.

Shaw is currently seeking a buyer for its investment in Corus, which it had acquired back in 2016 after selling its Shaw Media content business to the company.

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