Higher revenue in each of Astral Media‘s three business divisions as well as trimming costs helped it achieve the “single largest quarter” in the Montreal-based company’s history.
Astral Media, which is supporting a $3.38-billion takeover proposal from BCE, said its first-quarter profit was $59.6 million or $1.05 per diluted share.
Revenue rose to $274.5 million, Astral said Thursday.
But revenue was about $3 million below analyst estimates calling for $277.2 million of revenue for the three months ended Nov. 30. But profit beat analyst estimates by four cents per share, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.
Both the top and bottom lines were above the comparable period in 2011, when revenue was $271.1 million and profit was $55.8 million or $1 per share.
“I am very pleased with our company’s consolidated and segmented performance in the first quarter of fiscal 2013, marking the single largest quarter in the company’s history,” said Ian Greenberg, Astral’s president and chief executive.
“Our relentless focus on delivering better value to advertisers and consumers combined with the discipline that defines Astral’s decision-making approach provide us with the optimal strategy to reach our objectives and continue to deliver balanced growth across our diversified asset portfolio,” Greenberg said in a statement.
The company operates 25 specialty cable television channels, 84 radio stations and outdoor advertising businesses.
On a segmented basis, television accounted for $155.8 million of revenue, up from $153.6 million; radio generated $88.8 million, up from $88.3 million; and out-of-home advertising revenue from billboards and street furniture was $29.8 million, up from $29.3 million in the comparable period a year earlier.
Television also contributed the largest portion of Astral’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) at $61.2 million—up from $58.6 million a year before.
The radio division’s EBITDA was $27.8 million, up from $27.6 million, and out-of-home advertising had $11.9 million of EBITDA, up from $11.9 million.
The corporate drain on EBITDA was reduced to $7.3 million from $7.6 million.
The friendly takeover deal with Bell has been extended to June 1 and can be further extended to July 31.
The Bell/Astral deal is still subject to approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which is reviewing the revised proposal.
