TU - TELUS reports operational and financial results for third quarter 2023 | Benzinga

Total telecom customer growth of 406,000, up 59,000 over last year, an all-time quarterly record, driven by strong customer demand for our leading portfolio of bundled services across Mobility and Fixed

Mobile Phone net additions of 160,000, our best third quarter on record, and a record setting quarter for Connected Device net additions of 179,000

Robust third quarter Fixed customer net additions of 67,000, including 37,000 internet customer additions, powered by leading customer loyalty in combination with TELUS' PureFibre network

Consolidated Operating Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA growth of 7.2 per cent and 5.5 per cent, respectively, and Free Cash Flow growth of 7.3 per cent; Net Income lower by 75 per cent on higher efficiency-related restructuring and other costs, higher depreciation, amortization and financing costs; Adjusted Net Income down 21 per cent

Quarterly dividend increased to $0.3761, up 7.1 per cent over the same period last year, representing a dividend yield of approximately 6.5 per cent

Reconfirming our 2023 Consolidated Financial Targets

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 03, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TELUS Corporation today released its unaudited results for the third quarter of 2023. Consolidated operating revenues and other income increased by 7.2 per cent over the same period a year ago to $5.0 billion. This growth was driven by higher service revenues in our two reportable segments: TELUS technology solutions (TTech) and Digitally-led customer experiences – TELUS International (DLCX). TTech service revenue growth was driven by: (i) growth in health services revenues, mainly driven by our acquisition of LifeWorks on September 1, 2022 and organic growth; (ii) higher mobile network revenues attributable to subscriber and moderating roaming revenue growth; and (iii) an increase in fixed data service revenues, resulting from subscriber growth and higher, but moderating, revenue per internet customer. These factors were partly offset by lower TV and fixed legacy voice services revenues, primarily due to technological substitution. Growth in DLCX operating revenues resulted from expanded services for certain existing clients and growth from new clients, including those from our acquisition of WillowTree on January 3, 2023, and favourable foreign exchange impacts, which collectively more than offset the impact of some DLCX clients managing their own costs thus reducing our revenue. See Third Quarter 2023 Operating Highlights within this news release for a discussion on TTech and DLCX results.

"For the third quarter, our TELUS team once again demonstrated execution strength in our TTech business segment, characterized by the potent combination of leading customer growth, complemented by strong operational and financial results, alongside improving EBITDA growth and margin expansion in our DLCX segment," stated Darren Entwistle, President and CEO. "Our robust performance in our core telecom business is underpinned by our globally leading broadband networks and customer-centric culture, which enabled our strongest quarter on record, with total customer net additions of 406,000, up 17 per cent, year-over-year, driven by strong demand for our leading portfolio of bundled services across Mobility and Fixed services. This included strong mobile phone net additions of 160,000, our best third quarter on record and best quarterly result since the second quarter of 2008; all-time record third quarter connected device net additions of 179,000; and robust third quarter total fixed net additions of 67,000, including 37,000 internet customer additions, powered by leading customer loyalty in combination with TELUS' PureFibre network. Our leading customer growth is reflective of our consistent, industry-best client loyalty across our Mobile and Fixed product lines. Our team's passion for delivering customer experience excellence contributed to continued strong loyalty across our key product lines, once again this quarter. Notably, postpaid mobile phone churn is now in the tenth consecutive year of less than one per cent."

"Today, TI reported steady year-over-year revenue growth, sequential profitability improvement, and reiterated its 2023 full year outlook," continued Darren. "Revenue growth was driven by a combination of higher volumes and the ramp up of projects across key clients, notably within TI AI Data Solutions, demonstrating the significant potential for TI in the AI space. TI's Adjusted EBITDA margin increased meaningfully quarter-over-quarter, a positive trend that we expect to see continue in the fourth quarter and into 2024. This strong improvement reflects the team's considerable efforts to realize the significant cost savings from our cost efficiency program aimed at rebalancing supply and demand factors across TI's operations, most notably in Europe. Despite the near-term challenges stemming from macroeconomic pressures that TI has faced this year, we remain highly confident in TI's strategy and investment thesis. This is amplified by meaningful opportunities in respect of digital transformation – particularly with generative AI adoption – and the continuing critical importance of differentiated digital customer experience solutions in the market, which remains a vibrant tailwind for TI's medium- and long-term growth and profitability."

"At our TELUS Health business unit, we achieved third quarter revenues of $422 million, alongside 20 per cent EBITDA growth, normalizing for LifeWorks. We continue to execute on our global growth strategy and demonstrate our progress towards our goal to be the most trusted wellbeing company in the world, accelerated by our acquisition of LifeWorks in 2022. This includes our healthcare services and programs now covering more than 69 million lives around the world, an increase of more than 9 million year-over-year; supporting health outcomes on nearly 151 million digital health transactions during the third quarter, up more than five per cent over the same period a year ago; and increasing our virtual care membership to 5.5 million, up nearly 40 per cent over the prior year. As we evolve alongside the needs of our customers, world-wide, we foresee TELUS Health continuing its double-digit growth over the long-term. Since acquiring LifeWorks, our team has committed to driving $427 million in annualized synergies by the end of 2025. This includes $327 million expected to be realized through operating cost synergies from continued integration, and optimizing our organizational structure, systems and real estate. To date, we have achieved $194 million in combined annualized synergies, towards our overall objective. Furthermore, we anticipate $100 million from longer term revenue synergies driven by cross-selling health services products within our TELUS Health customer base, and throughout our TELUS portfolio of assets, including TI. These synergies will allow us to re-invest in the growth of our business and improve our profitability, while we focus on delivering efficient, secure and best-in-class health and wellness solutions to our customers."

"Our all-time record customer growth is underpinned by our dedicated team who are passionate about delivering superior service offerings, and digital capabilities, over our world-leading wireless and PureFibre broadband networks," added Darren. "Notably, in August, TELUS was named the Fastest Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Canada, for the fourth consecutive year, and recognized as the Best ISP for Alberta and British Columbia by U.S.-based PCMag. This outstanding accomplishment illustrates the TELUS team's steadfast commitment to connecting Canadians to the people and information that matter most, thanks to TELUS' fast, expansive and reliable PureFibre network. Moreover, this recognition of TELUS' national broadband network leadership underscores the tremendous value of our generational investments in world-leading wireless and wireline network technologies, which will continue to drive extensive socio-economic benefits for Canadians in communities from coast-to-coast, for decades to come."

"Importantly, our significant broadband network investments enable the continued advancement of our financial and operational performance, and the long-term sustainability of our industry-leading dividend growth program," continued Darren. "The 7.1 per cent year-over-year dividend increase announced today represents the twenty-fifth increase since we initiated our multi-year dividend growth program in 2011, with our program now in its thirteenth year. Since 2004, TELUS has returned more than $24 billion to shareholders, including over $19 billion in dividends, representing approximately $17 per share."

"To buttress our consistently strong performance, against the backdrop of the rapid transformation in our industry and evolving regulatory, competitive and macroeconomic environment that we currently face, we continue to focus on executing the extensive efficiency and effectiveness initiative across TELUS, announced in August. Importantly, the transformational investments we have prudently made over the course of more than a decade in building the best culture, and enabling industry-leading customer experiences over our globally leading wireless and PureFibre broadband networks, allowed us to accelerate our well-progressed plans to digitally revolutionize our business and further streamline our operating costs. Our team's grit, resilience and ability to embrace change and continuously evolve the way we operate have enabled us to substantially complete the targeted team member reductions. The incremental cost savings are expected to begin to be realized in the fourth quarter, with the full run-rate expected by the second quarter of next year. While this initiative has come with many difficult decisions, we have leveraged our decades-long track record of successfully navigating exogenous factors, from regulatory and competitive, to macroeconomic, and most recently, through the global pandemic, in order to rise to the current challenges and future proof our business."

"TELUS' global leadership in social capitalism was exemplified by the recent launch of the $50 million TELUS Student Bursary – the largest bursary fund in Canada," concluded Darren. "Created through a $25 million endowment from TELUS, along with an additional $25 million fundraising commitment from the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation, the TELUS Student Bursary will enable thousands of young people — who might otherwise lack the means — to enrich their lives through post-secondary education at a university, college or technical vocational school. Importantly, the annual bursary program will empower these leaders of tomorrow to pursue their ambitions, realize their potential and create a brighter future for themselves and their communities. Indeed, our TELUS team is helping to make the future friendly by ensuring that no young person is left behind."

Doug French, Executive Vice-president and CFO said, "Our third quarter results demonstrate our strong execution within a highly competitive environment and evolving global macroeconomic climate. In our domestic telecom business, our operating results showcase the power of our brand, in the communities we serve, and the strength of our leading bundled solutions across mobility and fixed, and in turn how those results are delivering robust financial outcomes as illustrated by seven per cent Adjusted EBITDA growth in our TTech segment. Within our global businesses, TI executed against its significant efficiency plans to meaningfully right size its cost structure, in response to macroeconomic pressures, as evidenced by the healthy sequential improvement in Adjusted EBITDA margins, and furthermore, putting itself in a strong position to elevate its margin profile as it exits 2023. Our TELUS Health team continues to execute its integration plan with LifeWorks, yielding significant cost efficiencies, positioning the business for strong growth in 2024 and beyond."

"During the third quarter, we continued to execute against our cost efficiency program, across our business, as outlined with the release of our second quarter results in August. While these efforts will continue into the fourth quarter of 2023 and into early 2024, this significant program will drive permanent cost reductions across our organization, supporting our growth profile and cash flow generation, as well as our dividend growth program and balance sheet deleveraging. Our team also successfully accessed the capital markets during the third quarter, issuing $1.75 billion in new debt securities across three different maturities, including our fifth sustainability-linked bond. This offering was met with strong investor demand, within a dynamic market environment, and further demonstrates our strong access to the capital markets as we further advance our growth strategy. Our balance sheet remains strong with the average cost of our long-term debt at 4.33 per cent, well below current rates, reflecting how our team has successfully leveraged the ultra-low interest rate environment over the last decade to accelerate our growth strategy, including our generational PureFibre build. We have a strong debt maturity schedule with the average maturity of our long-term debt at nearly 12 years and our ratio of fixed-to-floating stands at 85 per cent, a strong mitigation measure in an elevated yield environment," concluded Doug.

As compared to the same period a year ago, net income in the quarter of $137 million was down 75 per cent and Basic earnings per share (EPS) of $0.09 decreased by 76 per cent. These decreases were driven by the impacts from: (i) higher restructuring and other costs related to our cost efficiency and effectiveness programs including workforce reduction; (ii) higher depreciation and amortization primarily due to growth in capital assets over the past 12 months, including business acquisitions and our expanded broadband footprint; increased depreciation on network leases; increased depreciation from impairments arising from real estate rationalization; and higher asset retirement activity; and (iii) higher financing costs primarily from the estimated unrealized decline recorded from our virtual power purchase agreements with renewable energy projects as of September 30, 2023, as well as greater long-term debt outstanding and an increase in the effective interest rate. As it relates to EPS, the trends also reflect the effect of a higher number of Common shares outstanding. When excluding the effects of restructuring and other costs, income tax-related adjustments, other equity income related to real estate joint ventures and virtual purchase power agreements unrealized change in forward element (see ‘Reconciliation of adjusted Net income' in this news release), adjusted net income of $373 million decreased by 21 per cent over the same period last year, while adjusted basic EPS of $0.25 was down 26 per cent over the same period last year. Adjusted net income is a non-GAAP financial measure and adjusted basic EPS is a non-GAAP ratio. For further explanation of these measures, see ‘Non-GAAP and other specified financial measures' in this news release.

Compared to the same period last year, consolidated EBITDA decreased by 7.9 per cent to more than $1.5 billion due to significantly higher restructuring and other costs of $303 million related to our cost efficiency and effectiveness programs, including workforce reduction, and Adjusted EBITDA increased by 5.5 per cent to more than $1.8 billion. The growth in Adjusted EBITDA reflects: (i) higher mobile network revenues driven by subscriber growth and our moderating roaming recovery; (ii) growth in health, inclusive of business acquisitions and organic growth; (iii) lower headcount; and (iv) increased margins for internet and security, driven by subscriber growth. These factors were partly offset by: (i) merit-based compensation increases; (ii) higher costs related to the scaling of our digital capabilities, inclusive of increased subscription-based software licences, contractor and cloud usage costs; (iii) declining TV and fixed legacy voice margins; and (iv) a decline in DLCX contribution primarily due to cost imbalances arising from reductions in service demand, principally in Europe, from some of our larger technology clients, with the impacts being more significant beginning in the second quarter of 2023, which were partially offset by cost efficiency efforts initiated in the second quarter of 2023.

In the third quarter, we added 406,000 net customer additions, up 59,000 over the same period last year, and inclusive of 160,000 mobile phones and 179,000 connected devices, in addition to 37,000 internet, 20,000 TV and 18,000 security customer connections. This was partly offset by residential voice losses of 8,000. Our total TTech subscriber base of 18.9 million is up 7.2 per cent over the last twelve months, reflecting a 4.0 per cent increase in our mobile phone subscriber base to approximately 10 million and a 23 per cent increase in our connected devices subscriber base to more than 2.9 million. Additionally, our internet connections grew by 9.2 per cent over the last twelve months to approximately 2.6 million customer connections, our TV subscriber base increased by 4.8 per cent to approximately 1.4 million customers, and our security customer base expanded by 8.7 per cent to more than 1.0 million customers.

In health services, as of the end of the third quarter of 2023, virtual care members were 5.5 million and healthcare lives covered were 69.6 million, up 38 per cent and 15 per cent over the past twelve months, respectively. Digital health transactions in the third quarter of 2023 were 150.6 million, up 5.2 per cent over the third quarter of 2022.

Cash provided by operating activities increased by $7 million and free cash flow of $355 million increased by $24 million in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the same period a year ago. The increase in free cash flow was driven by higher Adjusted EBITDA and lower capital expenditures, partially offset by higher cash interest paid.

Consolidated capital expenditures of $769 million, including $22 million for real estate development, decreased by 17 per cent in the third quarter of 2023. TTech operations drove $161 million of the decrease in the third quarter of 2023 primarily due to the planned slowdown of our fibre and wireless network build and systems development, which is consistent with 2023 build targets when compared to our accelerated investments in the comparative period of 2022. Our capital investments have enabled: (i) our internet, TV and security subscriber growth, as well as more premises connected to our fibre network; (ii) increased coverage of our 5G network; (iii) the expansion of our health product offerings and capabilities, as well as to support business integration; and (iv) enhancement of our product and digital development to increase our system capacity and reliability. TTech real estate development capital expenditures increased by $3 million in the third quarter of 2023 due to increased capital investment to support construction of multi-year development projects including TELUS Ocean and other commercial buildings in B.C. By September 30, 2023, our 5G network covered approximately 31.6 million Canadians, representing over 85 per cent of the population.

Consolidated Financial Highlights

Notations used in the table above: n/m – not meaningful.

Third Quarter 2023 Operating Highlights

TELUS technology solutions (TTech)

• TTech operating revenues (arising from contracts with customers) increased by $311 million or 7.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, primarily reflecting increases in mobile network revenue, mobile equipment and other service revenues, fixed data services revenues and health services revenues, as described below. Decreases in fixed voice services revenues and agriculture and consumer goods services revenues were partial offsets.
• TTech EBITDA decreased by $111 million or 7.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, while TTech Adjusted EBITDA increased by $109 million or 7.0 per cent, reflecting an increase in direct contribution, lower headcount, inclusive of synergies achieved with LifeWorks, and lower advertising and promotional costs. These factors were partially offset by: (i) merit-based compensation increases; (ii) higher costs related to business acquisitions; (iii) increased services provided by the DLCX segment; and (iv) higher costs related to the scaling of our digital capabilities, inclusive of increased subscription-based licences, contractor and cloud usage costs.

Mobile products and services

• Mobile network revenue increased by $57 million or 3.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, largely due to growth in our mobile phone and connected device subscriber base as well as moderating roaming revenue growth. These impacts were partly offset by the impact of lower base rate plan prices and lower overage revenues, as discussed in mobile phone ARPU below.
• Mobile equipment and other service revenues increased by $12 million or 2.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, largely attributable to higher-value smartphones in the sales mix. This was partly offset by a reduction in contracted volumes attributed to increased promotional activity centred around rate plans and market aggression, in addition to more customers taking advantage of bring-your-own-device plan offerings.
• Mobile products and services direct contribution increased by $65 million or 4.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, largely reflecting mobile subscriber growth, higher roaming margins associated with increased international travel volumes and higher equipment margins. These were partly offset by higher commissions attributed to increased levels of retail traffic.
• Mobile phone ARPU was $59.19 in the third quarter of 2023, reflecting a decrease of $0.29 or 0.5 per cent for the quarter. This decrease is attributed to lower base rate plan prices from increased promotional activity and market aggression affecting both new and existing customers, which first escalated in the second quarter of 2023 and continued through the third quarter, in addition to lower overage revenues as customers continue to adopt larger or unlimited data and voice allotments in their rate plans. These impacts are partly mitigated by our continued focus to drive higher-value loading and realize higher, albeit moderating, roaming revenues from increased travel.
• Mobile phone gross additions were 455,000 in the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 34,000. These increases were largely driven by growth in postpaid gross additions due to continued market-driven promotional activity and market aggression which first escalated in the second quarter of 2023 and continued through the third quarter, increased retail and digital traffic, and growth in the Canadian population.
• Mobile phone net additions were 160,000 in the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 10,000, driven by higher mobile phone gross additions, partially offset by higher mobile phone churn, as described below.
• Our mobile phone churn rate was 1.00 per cent in the third quarter of 2023 compared to 0.95 per cent in the third quarter of 2022. This churn rate increased largely due to higher customer switching activity corresponding with increased market-driven promotions, as discussed above. These factors have been partly mitigated by our continued focus on customer retention through our industry-leading service and network quality, successful promotions and bundled offerings.
• Connected device net additions were 179,000 in the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 55,000, attributable to increased IoT connections, as well as sales of other connected devices, such as tablets and mobile internet.

Fixed products and services

• Fixed data services revenues increased by $54 million or 4.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2023. The increases were driven by: (i) an increase in our internet, security and TV subscribers; and (ii) higher, albeit moderating, revenue per customer as a result of internet speed upgrades and rate changes. This growth was partially offset by lower TV revenue per customer, reflecting an increased mix of customers selecting smaller TV combination packages and technological substitution.
• Fixed voice services revenues decreased by $7 million or 3.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, reflecting the ongoing decline in legacy voice revenues as a result of technological substitution and price plan changes. Declines were partly mitigated by the success of our bundled product offerings, our retention efforts and the migration from legacy to IP services offerings.
• Fixed equipment and other service revenues were unchanged in the third quarter of 2023.
• Fixed products and services direct contribution increased by $89 million or 7.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, reflecting growth in health, inclusive of business acquisitions and organic growth, as well as increased margins for internet, data and security, driven by subscriber growth. These were partly offset by declining TV and legacy voice margins, principally due to technological substitution.
• Internet net additions were 37,000 in the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 1,000 for the quarter. The increase was due to our success in driving strong gross additions in the consumer market through bundled product offerings, partly offset by a higher churn rate from macroeconomic pressures impacting consumer purchasing decisions.
• TV net additions were 20,000 in the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 2,000 for the quarter, due to our diverse offerings, partly offset by higher churn related to the same factors as internet.
• Security net additions were 18,000 in the third quarter of 2023, a decrease of 7,000 for the quarter, due to higher churn related to the same factors as internet, partly offset by increased demand for our bundled product offerings and diverse suite of products and services.
• Residential voice net losses were 8,000 in the third quarter of 2023 as compared to a net loss of 6,000 in the same period a year ago. Our bundled product and lower-priced offerings have been successful at mitigating losses and minimizing substitution to mobile and internet-based services.

Health services

• Through TELUS Health, we are leveraging technology to deliver connected solutions and services, improving access to care and revolutionizing the flow of information while facilitating collaboration, efficiency, and productivity across the healthcare ecosystem, progressing our vision of transforming healthcare and empowering people to live healthier lives.
• Health services revenues increased by $197 million in the third quarter of 2023, driven by: (i) our acquisition of LifeWorks on September 1, 2022, inclusive of organic growth in demand for our integrated health, productivity, retirement and benefit solutions; (ii) the continued adoption of our virtual care solutions; and (iii) increased revenue associated with our pharmacy management software.
• At the end of the third quarter of 2023, 5.5 million members were enrolled in our virtual care services, an increase of 1.5 million over the past 12 months, attributable to the continued adoption of virtual solutions that keep Canadians and others safely connected to health and wellness care.
• At the end of the third quarter of 2023, our healthcare programs covered 69.6 million lives as of the end of the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 9.2 million lives over the past 12 months, mainly due to healthy growth in our employee and family assistance programs from both new and existing clients across all of our regions, in addition to continued demand for virtual solutions.
• Digital health transactions were 150.6 million in the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 7.4 million for the quarter, largely driven by increased paid exchange of healthcare data between our health benefits management system and care providers resulting from higher patient demand for elective health services.
  

Agriculture and consumer goods services

• Through TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods, we provide innovative digital solutions and actionable data-insights that better connect the global supply chain, driving more efficient production processes and improving the safety, quality and sustainability of food and consumer goods. Importantly, these efforts are also enabling better traceability to the end consumer, further supporting improved food outcomes.
• Agriculture and consumer goods services revenues decreased by $2 million in the third quarter of 2023, reflecting transient headwinds and macroeconomic challenges, including subscription softness and churn in our Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based revenue management software for consumer goods manufacturers. Our agriculture and consumer goods revenues are largely earned in U.S. dollars, and in 2023 compared to 2022, the Canadian dollar weakened against the U.S. dollar, resulting in favourable impacts to revenues.

Digitally-led customer experiences – TELUS International (DLCX)

• DLCX operating revenues (arising from contracts with customers) increased by $39 million or 5.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2023 attributable to growth in our tech and games, eCommerce and fintech and other industry vertical clients, as discussed below. This growth was partially offset by lower revenues from one of our largest clients, a leading social media company, as well as a global financial institution client. In addition, the strengthening of both the U.S. dollar and the European euro against the Canadian dollar resulted in a favourable foreign currency impact on our DLCX operating results. Revenues from contracts denominated in U.S. dollars, European euros and other currencies will be affected by changes in foreign exchange rates.
• Revenue from our tech and games industry vertical increased by $27 million or 7.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, due to continued growth experienced with a number of our technology clients and the addition of new clients, which was partially offset by lower revenue from one of our largest clients, a leading social media company.
• Revenue from our communications and media industry vertical increased by $12 million or 6.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, driven primarily by more services provided to the TTech segment and the addition of new clients from our acquisition of WillowTree.
• Revenue from our eCommerce and fintech industry vertical increased by $8 million or 9.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, due to the addition of new clients from our acquisition of WillowTree, partially offset by a decline in service volumes from fintech clients.
• Revenue from our healthcare industry vertical increased by $37 million in the third quarter of 2023, primarily due to more services provided to the healthcare business unit of the TTech segment.
• Revenue from our banking, financial services and insurance industry vertical decreased by $9 million in the third quarter of 2023, due to lower service volumes from a global financial institution client, partially offset by the addition of new clients from our acquisition of WillowTree.
• DLCX EBITDA decreased by $18 million or 9.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, while DLCX Adjusted EBITDA decreased by $13 million or 6.5 per cent for the same period. These decreases were primarily ...

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