Investor Stock Market News: Rogers hopes sports trading will boost stock prices, National Bank buys PGM Global Holdings
Rogers’ existing ownership of the Toronto Blue Jays and home of the baseball club, the company’s total sports assets are worth about $15 billion, said Glenn Brandt, Rogers’ chief financial officer.
“We know the value of these assets on the balance sheet better than the market now,” Brandt said.
“Others talk to us also understand the value.”
Although Rogers intends to have a controlling interest in MLSE, some analysts speculate that it can sell minority stakes to investors.
Brandt said Rogers has been in discussions with “various institutional investors” who expressed “significant” interest as they awaited approval from alliances and regulators for the MLSE transactions.
“It’s too early for me to start guessing when it will lead to a deal,” he said.
“We will explore these opportunities with a very open mind.”
Earlier this month, Rodgers also announced a 12-year, $11 billion deal for the national rights to play in Canada’s NHL game starting the 2026-27 season. The deal will begin after its current 12-year deal ends with its signing of $5.2 billion.
“The media rights in these countries are now locked into 2038 and are Canada’s most valuable media rights,” Staffieri said.
“The first deal was profitable and successful for Rogers and SportsNetnet, and we plan to build on it over the next 12 years.”
Rogers’ recent sports splurge has indeed attracted the eyebrows of at least one shareholder at the annual meeting, and his decision to star player Vladimir Guerrero Jr this month was given to star player Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
“Is this a decision on the board or who decides to spend $700 million on baseball players?” shareholders said, using about converting to Canadian dollars.
Edward Rogers said the Blue Jays management brought the proposed Guerrero contract to him and Staffieri, and then all Rogers’ board of directors approved the approval.
“It’s a very big bet,” Rogers said.
“It’s a lot of money, but in the context of today’s sports, we think it’s a good investment for our performance.”
Rogers’ shares traded 0.1% at around noon Wednesday after the company reported its first-quarter profit growth, compared with a year ago.
It said its stock made $280 million or 50 cents in the quarter ended March 31, up from $256 million in profit or 46 cents a share in the same period last year. Revenues in three months totaled $4.98 billion, up from $4.9 billion in the same period last year.
As the subscriber base grows, wireless service revenues have increased by 2% from the same period last year, while wireless device revenues have lowered equipment sales by 3%.
Media revenue grew 24%, due to increased sports-related revenue among the Toronto Blue Jays and higher subscriber and advertising revenue. Cable revenue fell 1%.
The result is Rogers reported an increase in 34,000 net subscribers for mobile phones, including 11,000 postpaids – 98,000 postpaids in the same period last year.
Rogers’ monthly churn for net paid mobile subscribers (a measure of those who canceled services) is 1.01%, down from 1.10% in the previous quarter.
The company recorded 23,000 net prepaids in the quarter, while it lost 37,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2024.
Meanwhile, Rogers’ phone average monthly revenue was $56.94, down from $58.06 in the first quarter of the previous year.
Net retail internet increased to 23,000.
Rogers’ dilution share is 99 cents per share based on an adjusted basis, the same as in the first quarter of 2024.
The result is that the telecom sector is growing slowly due to low immigration levels, Staffieri said.
“The company continues to exercise strong cost controls to offset the frontline pressure,” Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi said in a note.
“The overall results are consistent with expectations and we would not be surprised to see a relief rally for stocks given the huge obstacles to stock performance recently; however, the outlook remains dull.”
