Telus (TSX:T) turned in solid third-quarter earnings based in part on low customer churn and growth in its wireless business – growth that the company said will help it continue to invest in broadband and cellular networks – the telecom giant announced November 8.
Telus' revenue for the third quarter was $2.87 billion – a 3.6% increase over the same period in 2012 –according to the company's third quarter financial statements.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 4.6% to $1.04 billion, and basic earnings per share increased 14% to $0.56, or 18% to $0.58 on an adjusted basis
The company returned $941 million to shareholders, including $222 million in dividends. The balance was in the form of $719 million worth of share purchases. Year-to-date, Telus has returned $1.6 billion to shareholders.
As for its basic business, Telus added 106,000 postpaid wireless customers, 34,000 new Optik TV subscribers and 19,000 high-speed Internet customers.
The telecom's solid Q3 financials come on the heels of a Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) report this week that showed customer complaints against Telus were considerably lower than those received for other major Canadian telecoms.
In an investor conference call this morning, Telus CEO Darren Entwistle said the company's "customers-first culture" has reduced subscriber churn.
"Telus also reported an industry-leading monthly postpaid wireless subscriber churn rate of less than 1% – our lowest since the first quarter of 2007," Entwistle said in an investor conference call November 8.
"Gaining customers and earning their loyalty is critical to our ongoing success, so we were pleased with the results of the annual CCTS report on customer complaints issued earlier this week, which saw complaints by our customers decline significantly for the second year in a row."
Telus ended the quarter with $365 million in cash, which is down from Q3 2012 – a reflection of capital investments.
Entwistle said the company's strong balance sheet will allow it to continue to invest in broadband infrastructure, acquire spectrum in future auctions and still deliver dividends to shareholders.
"We can afford to do it because we have one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry on a global basis, "Entwistle said.
"And that balance sheet, for us, is a competitive weapon, whether it's investing today for the benefit of tomorrow, in terms of broadband technology, or premium positioning as it relates to future spectrum auctions, it's a tremendous competitive weapon."
