Montreal-based cable conglomerate Cogeco seems to be getting the growth it wanted from its Metrocast purchase, which its Atlantic Broadband division closed on for $1.4 billion in January.
Yesterday, the Canadian telecom reported a 6.8% increase in revenue to $599 million in its fiscal second quarter ended Feb. 28.
The company attributed the revenue growth to increased American broadband services revenue, driven not only by the Metrocast acquisition itself, but rate increases for internet services in its U.S. footprint. Atlantic Broadband revenue, which includes the newly acquired Metrocast assets, was $206 million in the second quarter, matching investment analysts’ consensus forecasts.
Cogeco is facing tight competition with fiber in Canada, but its expanded U.S. footprint is fairly rife with DSL competition.
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“Margins of 44% in the quarter were a significant improvement to prior quarters and reflect the benefit of adding Metrocast’s higher-margin business,” Scotiabank analyst Jeff Fan wrote in a note to investors this morning. “We believe margins have further room to grow as Cogeco completes the integration of MetroCast giving it increased scale.
Canadian cable revenue, meanwhile, was largely flat at $324 million, missing consensus forecasts of around $332 million. Canadian cable EBITDA came in at $167 million, below forecasts of $172 million.
Cogeco’s bottom line also was uplifted by $70 million (U.S.) from U.S. corporate tax rollbacks.