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Bell Aliant Q4 profit tops Street

7th Feb 2012, 3:40 pm by Olivia D'Orazio
Bell Aliant Q4 profit tops Street

Bell Aliant (TSE:BA) reported its fourth quarter results and its 2012 forecast on Tuesday, beating analysts' estimates.

For the 2012 fiscal year, the communications giant said it anticipates revenues between $2.7 and $2.78 billion, as the company's FibreOP technology continues its expansion, and drives internet and TV revenues.

Adjusted earnings are expected between $1.60 and $1.80 per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are anticipating $1.60 per share for 2012.

Bell Aliant, which focuses on providing telecommunications services to customers in eastern Canada, is partly owned by Bell's parent company, BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE).

For the latest fourth quarter, Bell Aliant posted earnings of $80 million, or $0.35 per share. Adjusted for certain items, earnings rose to $0.42 per share, beating analysts' 37-cents per share estimate.

Revenues for the quarter fell two percent to $701 million, as contribution revenues and pole attachment fees weighed on sales.

President and CEO, Karen Sheriff, said: "I am very pleased with our fourth quarter results.

"We met or exceeded all of our financial targets while executing an aggressive construction program expanding our fibre-to-the-home coverage area.

"This expansion is improving our opportunities for revenue growth by giving more customers access to the best Internet and TV service bundle available in our markets."

The company's telephone service revenues declined during the latest quarter, including a 6.6 percent drop in local service and a 5.3 percent slip in long distance service.

Still, internet revenue rose 8.7 percent, as residential high-speed average revenue per user (ARPU) rose 8.2 percent, largely on higher customer demand for more bandwidth and for premium services.

At year-end 2011, Bell Aliant counted 862,000 high-speed internet customers, up 2.4 percent.

The company added 2,000 new high-speed internet customers during the quarter, down from 5,000 additions a year ago, reflecting continued migration to its FibreOP internet technology, which added 13,000 new customers, the company said.

IPTV revenues rose to $14 million, as Bell Aliant added 9,000 new customers in the fourth quarter. FibreOP TV customers grew by 11,000 during the period.

"The success we have achieved over the past several years with our strategy has convinced us to stay the course - continuing to grow our broadband business, while resetting our cost structure and improving our customers' experience," Sheriff continued.

"We now plan to pass approximately 650,000 premises with [fibre-to-the-home] by the end of 2012, up slightly from our previous target of more than 600,000.

"We have begun to see a change in our revenue trajectory in Atlantic Canada, and as we announced yesterday, we will be launching FibreOPTM in Sudbury, Ontario later this year. By continuing to execute on our strategy, we expect to progressively return our overall revenue trajectory to a positive path.

"I also expect our 2012 financial results to show improved year-over-year trends from our 2011 experience."

In other news, Bell Aliant said its board of directors has declared a $0.475 per share quarterly dividend, payable on March 30.

In Toronto, shares of the Halifax, Nova Scotia-based company rose 0.14 percent to $27.94, as of 2:48 pm EDT.

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