Bell’s parent company BCE wrapped up 2024 with strong profits but faced challenges in attracting new mobile customers.
While revenue dropped slightly, Bell managed to improve its bottom line, posting a record annual adjusted EBITDA margin of 43.4%.
“Bell’s financial results for Q4 and throughout 2024 demonstrate steady execution as we balanced growth with profitability, while transforming our business and reducing costs,” said Mirko Bibic, President and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, in a statement.
“Through our disciplined approach, we achieved all of our non-revenue targets for 2024 and were also within our revised revenue guidance objective. We also achieved our highest annual adjusted EBITDA margin in over 30 years at 43.4%,” he said.
Bell’s wireless service revenue grew in 2024, but new postpaid mobile activations took a hit. The company added 56,550 postpaid customers in Q4, a 56% drop from the same period last year.
For the full year, net activations were down nearly 50% as competition in the mobile market intensified. Bell partly blamed government immigration policies for slowing population growth, leading to fewer new activations.
On the Internet front, Bell’s fibre business saw some positives. Total Internet revenue rose 3.3%, and the company now has 3 million residential FTTH (Fibre to the Home) subscribers, a 10% jump from 2023. Demand for high-speed fibre continues to outpace cable services.
Despite a 1.1% decline in total revenue to $24.4 billion for 2024, Bell’s profits saw a Q4 boost. The company reported net earnings of $505 million, up 16% from last year’s fourth quarter, thanks to lower asset write-downs and operational cost savings.
However, full-year net earnings were down a massive 83.9%, mainly due to a $2.19 billion asset impairment charge on Bell Media’s struggling TV and radio businesses. Shares of BCE Inc are down 6.13% for the day at $33.70 per share at close. In the past year, shares are down nearly 37%.
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lower your monthly plans, eliminate your connection fee's and create better customer service bell and maybe you will start to see your subscribers climb back up.
If Bhell's business model is predicated on importing customers and getting the government to subsidize their plans, no wonder margin went up. Especially when culling thousands of Canadian jobs – cuz that's the patriotic thing to do, isn't it, Marko Bibic?
I wish you all the best in becoming the fourth mobile carrier in Canada. Oh wait, it's a race to the bottom, the others are no better.
I cannot say why but watching this company hurt makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Maybe just maybe it has been the decades of abuse and greed this company has unleashed on the Canadian public?
Yeah, that must be it.