A Corus sign is pictured at their headquarters in Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrien Veczan
January 14, 2014 - 4:29 AM
TORONTO - Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX:CRJ.B) is raising its monthly dividend by 6.9 per cent following improved quarterly profit and revenue compared with year-earlier results.
On an annual basis, the Corus dividend rises by seven cents to $1.09 per B share and to $1.085 per A share, or about nine cents per share on a monthly basis starting Feb. 28.
The dividend increase was announced along with the radio, television and animation company's first-quarter financial results.
The Toronto-based company had 65 cents per share of adjusted earnings, which was three cents per share ahead of analyst estimates.
Adjusted net income was $55.2 million, up from $52.2 million a year earlier while net income under standard accounting was $150.9 million, or $1.78 per share, up from $52.2 million.
Corus says the adjusted income excluded several items including the impact of a new fair value estimate of its stake in Teletoon, which added $127.9 million or $1.51 per share to net income.
Revenue for the three months ended Nov. 30 was $226 million, up from $209 million a year earlier and just short of estimates.
The increase came from the Corus television division, which had revenue increase to $177.9 million from $157.6 million, while revenue at its radio division declined to $48 million from $52.3 million.
Analysts were looking for 62 cents of adjusted earnings with $227.8 million of revenue for the three months ended Nov. 30, according to estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014