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Aliant Revenue Grows in First Quarter, but Net Profit Slips

5:20 am on May 3, 2006 | Category: Business, Corporate, Telecom Services, Telephone

Atlantic Canadaâ€™s incumbent telephone provider, Aliant Inc., experienced a 7.8% slip in profits in the first quarter, with net earnings coming in at $40.2 million, after an $8.3 million one-time accounting charge.

The company earned a total of $0.30/share in the period that ended March 31, down from $43.6 million ($0.31/share) in the first quarter of 2005.

Operating revenue, meanwhile, was up 3.9% to $544.9 million, from $524.4 million last year.

“Our focus on growth and transformation allowed us to post solid revenue gains while realizing significant productivity savings throughout the organization,” said Aliant president and CEO, Jay Forbes, in a statement. “Further, the strength of the underlying cash flows in the Aliant wireline operations bodes well for creating steady distributable cash flow for the new Bell Aliant Regional Communications Income Fund.”

The company hopes to increase its future profit margins by merging its wireline telephone operations with those of Bell Canada, in rural Ontario and Quebec. Bell is already the majority shareholder of Aliant, with a 53.2% stake in the company.

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