Chief Executive Officer, Brad Shaw said, “We have successfully closed the acquisition of WIND Mobile on March 1, 2024 and the disposition of Shaw Media Inc. on April 1, 2024. We believe these two transformative transactions better position Shaw for growth over the long term. With the acquisition of WIND and with our customers’ connectivity needs at the heart of the strategic decisions we make, we are combining the power of our fibre, coax, WiFi and wireless networks to deliver a seamless experience of anytime and anywhere connectivity for our customers.”

The Company sold Shaw Media to Corus Entertainment Inc.  for consideration of approximately $2.65 billion which is comprised of $1.85 billion in cash and 71,364,853 Corus Class B non-voting participating shares issued at $11.21 per share. Given the announcement of the sale occurred in the second quarter, the assets, liabilities, operating results and operating cash flows for Shaw Media in the current and comparable periods are presented as discontinued operations – separate from the Company’s continuing operations.

Selected Financial Highlights

“The core of our business continues to show solid results despite the economic challenges that some of our customers are facing in parts of western Canada. We remain committed to operational excellence as we build on this foundation to transform Shaw into a leading pure-play connectivity provider,” said Mr. Shaw. Net income for the quarter was $164 million or $0.32 per share relative to $168 million or $0.34 per share for the comparable period. Net income for the six month period was $382 million or $0.75 per share compared to $395 million or $0.81 per share for the comparable period. The current periods included transaction costs associated with the WIND acquisition, higher amortization and a greater equity loss related to some of our investments, which were partially offset by higher operating income from continuing operations and higher income from discontinued operations, net of tax. The prior period also included income related to a distribution from a venture capital fund investment.

Consolidated free cash flow¹ for the three and six month periods of $119 million and $291 million, respectively, as compared to $169 million and $362 million for the comparable periods. The reduction for the quarter and year-to-date was largely due to higher planned capital expenditures which were partially offset by higher operating income before restructuring costs and amortization1 and lower cash taxes.

For Consumer, revenue generating units were 41,922 lower in the quarter, an improvement over the 43,750 RGUs loss in the first quarter of 2024 and 65,215 RGU losses in the second quarter of 2024. The current quarter change reflects losses of 14,473 phone lines with the continuing unbundling of phone services market wide, 6,002 satellite video RGUs, and 25,782 cable video RGUs which were partially offset by a 4,335 internet RGU gain.

“Providing our customers with choice, value and flexibility through innovation remains a top priority for us,” said Mr. Shaw. “Over the past few months, we have introduced a number of features for our video customers, including FreeRange TV, a market-leading cloud based X1 platform, unveiled in January 2024 that had over 210,000 account activations and more than 360,000 unique devices at March 31, 2024.”

Mr. Shaw added, “We continue to make progress on our Comcast video roadmap with the launch of FreeRange TV Web access on April 6, 2024. This product extends the FreeRange experience from a wireless mobile device to other connected devices such as laptops and SmartTVs. It is another example of how Shaw is changing the video landscape for our customers. As we continue to expand our next generation video services and enhance broadband performance through the deployment of DOCSIS 3.1, we remain committed to providing a leading experience for our customers.”

On February 16, 2024, Shaw launched Limited TV, an entry level plan that complements our menu of value-added video offerings. With Limited TV, Shaw was one of the first to meet the CRTC’s requirement for a “skinny basic package” ahead of their mandated timeline. Limited TV allows customers to subscribe to basic TV and choose from additional theme packs to build their own personalized TV package. Shaw continues to expand choice in video with the new two-year ValuePlans, hardware options, access to the most popular channels at competitive prices, FreeRange TV, shomi, CraveTV and the latest on-demand content.

“With WIND we have acquired immediate scale with a subscriber base of approximately 980,000, extensive spectrum, retail distribution, a wireless network that has a clear path to LTE and the opportunity to integrate that wireless network with our hybrid fibre-coax network and Shaw Go WiFi in a converged best-in-class network-of-networks.” said Mr. Shaw.

With the acquisition of WIND and disposition of Shaw Media, Shaw is revising its fiscal 2024 guidance. Shaw’s revised fiscal 2024 guidance for Consumer, Business Network Services and Business Infrastructure Services, combined, is for operating income before restructuring costs and amortization to range between flat to low single digit growth over fiscal 2024. Consolidated capital investment for Consumer, Business Network Services and Business Infrastructure Services, combined, is expected to be $995 million. The increase in expected capital spend reflects capital projects acquired in the INetU transaction and the effect of foreign exchange rates relative to plan. Shaw expects to provide consolidated fiscal 2024 guidance, including WIND, in its normal course.

Brad Shaw concluded, “As we move through the last half of the year and into fiscal 2024, we are excited about the opportunities ahead for all segments of the business. Shaw’s new asset profile has renewed our focus on growth while operational efficiencies will anchor our ability to be successful in a competitive marketplace.”