Rogers Communications Inc.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Rogers Communications Inc. first quarter 2025 results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. Following the presentation, we'll conduct a question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star, then zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Paul Carpino, Vice President, Investor Relations with Rogers Communications. Please go ahead, Mr. Carpino.

Thank you, Gaylene, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Today, I'm here with our President and Chief Executive Officer, Tony Staffieri, and our Chief Financial Officer, Glenn Brandt. As a reminder, we will be holding our AGM this morning at 11 a.m., and you can pick up that call through the Investor Relations website. This call will last approximately until 8.45, so we ask that you limit yourself to one question so we can accommodate as many questions as possible. We'll be happy to follow up with you later this morning on any other questions. Today's discussion will include estimates and other forward-looking information from which our actual results could differ Please review the cautionary language in today's earnings report in our 2024 annual report regarding the various factors, assumptions, and risks that could cause our actual results to differ. With that, let me turn it over to Tony.

Thank you, Paul, and good morning, everyone. This morning, we reported our first quarter results. As you saw, we continued to deliver growth, 2% growth in service revenue and 2% growth in adjusted EBITDA. and we delivered strong margin improvements year over year on our already industry-leading margins. We also demonstrated our ability to execute on our delivering plans while continuing to invest in our core businesses to drive long-term growth. These solid results come against a backdrop of slower growth in our sector driven by lower immigration and a highly competitive market. Our results also demonstrate our clear focus on disciplined execution. profitable growth, and delivering the balance sheet. These are our key areas of focus in a more cautious economic environment. In cable and wireless, we delivered strong financials, profitable subscriber growth, and industry-leading margins. Despite a significantly slower rate of growth in the market, we delivered 57,000 wireless and internet net additions. Q1 typically represents about 10% of annual subscriber growth for the industry. And so as we worked through the quarter, we remained focused on price discipline and delivering profitable subscriber growth. As I look to the year ahead, we'll continue to deliver the same industry-leading performance through four priorities. Executing with discipline, delivering efficiencies across the company, delivering the balance sheet, and advancing our plan to surface value from our sports assets. First, on executing with discipline. Our sector is adjusting to lower immigration. This change was reflected in our 2025 outlook. Our revenue and EBITDA growth profile remains positive for the year, and our priority is to maintain solid financials. Financial discipline is key in this or any market environment. A good example is our focus on offering high-value wireless and internet plans on the Rogers brand while delivering differentiated services, the most content, the best entertainment on Canada's most reliable networks. The disciplined execution with a strong value proposition remains our priority to ensure our financial performance is consistent with the capital spending we are making to improve and grow our networks. Second, on delivering efficiencies across the company. In this more moderate growth environment, we will look to bring costs in line with revenue growth and to identify more efficiencies. This includes digital investments that both reduce costs and simplify and improve the customer experience. Our track record on driving efficiency has been notable and very effective over the past three years, and we expect continued strong performance in this area. Third, and importantly, our delivering efforts remain a top priority. We have been making strategic long-term investments for growth while also accelerating the de-levering of the balance sheet. Balancing both is key to our long-term strategy. We made a clear commitment to de-lever when we merged with Shaw to return leverage to 3.5 times 36 months after closing. We've made very good progress on this priority. Since the start of the year, we've attracted an aggregate $9 billion of equity capital. Upon closing our structured equity transaction, our leverage will be down at 3.6 times. We will have gone from the highest leverage amongst the three major Canadian carriers to the lowest leverage within two years after closing the Shaw transaction. It is clear and also worth noting that both domestic and international investors remain confident in Roger's strategy, asset base, and investment grade balance sheet as reflected through these significant investments. Our assets include Canada's most reliable networks with continuous industry-leading new innovations. Yesterday, we were awarded the most reliable 5G wireless network in Canada by Umlaut for the seventh straight year, solidifying our longstanding leadership in network reliability. And earlier this year, OpenSignal also recognized Rogers as Canada's most reliable wireless network and most reliable internet. We also started delivering four gig download and one gig upload speeds in select Calgary communities with the Rogers Xfinity modem. This new technology supports multi-gig symmetrical speeds and includes Wi-Fi 7. We are the first internet provider to bring this next gen Wi-Fi to Canadians. Finally, we'll continue to advance our strategy to surface value from our sports assets. The multi-billion dollar value of our world-class sports assets is not reflected in our share price, and our priority is to change this. Earlier this month, we announced the renewal of our partnership with the NHL. These national media rights, now locked in until 2038, are the most valuable media rights in Canada. The first deal was profitable and successful for Rogers and Sportsnet, and we plan to build on this over the next 12 years. On MLSC, we expect to close the transaction in mid 2025. Upon close, we will control 75% of one of the most prestigious sports and entertainment organizations in the world. Beyond the sporting franchises associated with this investment, we will also expand our revenue and EBITDA base. Our sports assets are unrivaled in Canada and our sports portfolio is one of the best in the world. sports assets continue to appreciate significantly in value, and that's why investors remain very interested in holding a minority position in these appreciating assets. We continue to meet with external investors who recognize the opportunity with our sports portfolio. For now, we remain focused on closing our MLSC deal to become majority owners. Overall, I'm pleased with our operating and financial performance in the first quarter and remain confident in our disciplined execution and steadfast focus to remain the leader in our sector. We will focus on a very clear set of priorities consistent with our strategic plan to drive growth and surface value for our shareholders. I would like to thank our team for delivering on our priorities and continuing to execute with discipline in a competitive environment as they consistently have over the past three years. With that, over to you, Glenn.