TORONTO — “We are pleased with another quarter of strong audience performance, with Global and our largest specialty brands leading the way across platforms.”
That’s the positive assessment from Corus Entertainment Inc. co-CEO Troy Reeb, whose company on Friday released fiscal Q2 2025 results that saw fiscal results that may do little to nudge a 10-cent stock skyward. Television segment profit tumbled 62% while Radio segment profit was up despite a 14% revenue decline.
To be blunt, Corus had another quarter full of fiscal challenges. Yet Reeb offered words of positivity in prepared comments, noting that recently launched MVPD-distributed offerings Flavour Network and Home Network — created after the company lost Canadian rights to U.S. fare to rival Rogers — “are exceeding our expectations, built on Corus’ proven ability to curate brands and content that audiences want to watch.”
Reeb added that, “in the face of increasing economic uncertainty, our flagship Global News team continues to deliver on our commitment to provide Canadians with a trusted source of news and information.”
But what does that have to do with Corus’ financial performance? Corus co-CEO and CFO John Gossling also took a positive spin on the dreary financial report, stating, “Our television advertising revenue was modestly ahead of our outlook for the second quarter, building on the strength of our programming and audiences. At the same time, we recognize that the industry landscape remains challenging with limited visibility. As such, importantly, we have taken significant steps to progress our capital and debt plan, and our updated credit facility provides enhanced stability as we pursue further right-sizing initiatives and targeted growth opportunities to create a more sustainable future.”
For the three-month period ending February 28, 2025, consolidated revenue declined to $270.35 million CDN, from $299.54 million CDN, as the adjusted net loss attributable to shareholders widened to $42.73 million CDN ($0.21 cents) from $5.94 million CDN ($0.03).
The television segment was particularly challenged, with revenue dipping to $251.81 million CDN from $278.06 million CDN, resulting in segment profit of just $22.61 million CDN, sliding from $58.9 million CDN.
Radio? The group of stations Corus has saw its revenue dip to $18.55 million, from $21.48 million. However, belt-tightening helped the Radio arm experience a profit gain to $1.44 million, rising from $857,000.
Importantly, Free Cash Flow improved to $46 million, from $32.86 million.
What can investors expect in fiscal Q3 and for the full fiscal year of 2025 from Corus? The C-Suite expects “the over-supply of premium digital video inventory from foreign competitors and continued generally lower demand for linear advertising” to negatively impact the company, with mid-teen percentage declines for its TV ad revenue in fiscal Q3, on a year-over-year basis.
Corus also said the company will continue with its implementation of additional cost reduction initiatives and expects general and administrative expenses to decline in the range of 5% to 10% for the third quarter versus the prior year.
In midday trading on the TSX, “CJR-B” was at $0.11 CDN.
— With reporting by RBR+TVBR in Vaughn, Ont. Additional reporting by Adam Jacobson in Boca Raton, Fla.
