Last year appears to have been a record-setting one for TBayTel.
According to figures released by the municipally owned utility, the company made a profit of $14.4 million in 2011, on record revenues of $166.4 million. TBayTel is also expected to provide a combined dividend to the city of $20.2 million, part of $151.2 million in expenses the company incurred.
The dividend includes a fixed $17 million payment, plus a special dividend of $2.5 million that will directed into the city's Renew Thunder Bay fund and a performance dividend of $780,000. The $17-million payment saves taxpayers about 12.5 per cent on their annual tax bills.
Broken down, the company brought in $63 million on its wireline service in 2011, $99.1 million on its wireless service and $3.8 million on other services, presumably television and security. Those numbers are up from $61.8 million, $87.6 million and $1.8 million respectively.
President Don Campbell said a lot of that money is going back into capital upgrades for every service the company provides. Wireless alone will see around $9 million in building this year.
“This money just doesn’t sit, we reinvest it,” Campbell said, adding capital spending will be around $27 million.
While most numbers are up, the company is seeing a drop in landline services, something Campbell said is true across the entire industry. Voice in wireless plans is also dropping as people opt to use more data as smart phones continue to rise.
“It’s a balancing act one offsets the other,” he said.
TBayTel's operations expenses dropped from $41.3 million to $39.7 million in 2011. Its financing expenses remained virtually unchanged at $48.4 million, while its sales and marketing costs jumped from $29.8 million to $36.5 million. Administration costs were up about $270,000, while the dividend to the city is about $500,000 more than it was in 2010. All told, expenses jumped from $145.2 million to $151.2 million.
Members of the utility's board of directors met behind closed doors with city council Tuesday to provide them with their annual financial update. During the meeting the board re-elected Michael Power as board chairman.
TbayTel's 2010 revenues were $152.7 million.
