FEBRUARY 13, 2025
TELUS reports robust operational and financial results for fourth quarter 2024; announces 2025 financial targets
Industry-leading total Mobile and Fixed customer growth of 328,000 in the fourth quarter, driven by strong demand for our leading portfolio of bundled services across Mobility and Fixed
Strong customer growth includes Mobile Phone and Connected Device net additions of 70,000 and 194,000, respectively, alongside industry-leading Fixed customer net additions of 64,000, including 37,000 internet customer additions
Mobility and Fixed customer additions of 1,216,000 for the full year, representing the third consecutive year of net additions above the one million threshold
TTech Operating Revenues higher by 4.1 per cent and strong TTech Adjusted EBITDA growth 7.0 per cent in the fourth quarter, reflecting important cost-to-serve efficiency improvements yielding higher margin per user, gains from real estate and copper monetization, in addition to continued double digit momentum in health EBITDA contribution growth
For the full year, TTech Operating Revenue higher by 1.8 per cent, TTech Adjusted EBITDA increased 5.5 per cent achieving low end of target range alongside margin expansion of 110 basis points to 38.2 per cent; Consolidated Free Cash Flow of approximately $2.0 billion, up 12 per cent over prior year
Targeting 2025 TTech Operating Revenues and Adjusted EBITDA to increase by circa 2 to 4 per cent and circa 3 to 5 per cent, respectively; Consolidated Capital Expenditures excluding real estate of approximately $2.5 billion; Consolidated Free Cash Flow of approximately $2.15 billion in 2025, supporting balance sheet strength and continued deleveraging along with our industry-leading dividend growth program
Vancouver, B.C. – TELUS Corporation today released its unaudited results for the fourth quarter of 2024. Consolidated operating revenues and other income increased by 3.5 per cent over the same period a year ago to $5.4 billion. This growth was driven by higher service revenue and higher other income from real estate and copper monetization in our TELUS technology solutions (TTech) segment, offset by lower service revenue in our TELUS digital experience segment (TELUS Digital).
Within TTech, higher revenue from the expansion of mobile, residential internet, TV and security subscribers, health services, agriculture and consumer goods services, were partially offset by rate reductions in mobile network, lower fixed legacy voice and TV services revenues due to technological substitution. The decline in TELUS Digital operating revenues were from lower external revenues reflecting reduced revenue from certain technology and eCommerce clients, partially offset by the favourable foreign currency impact. See Fourth Quarter 2024 Operating Highlights within this news release for a discussion on TTech and TELUS Digital results.
“In the fourth quarter, our team’s relentless pursuit of operational excellence continued to differentiate the TELUS organization, driving significant customer growth and robust financial results,” said Darren Entwistle, President and CEO. “Through our premier asset portfolio and unwavering commitment to cost efficiency, we delivered strong profitable growth to close out 2024 - momentum we intend to build upon in 2025. Our focus on margin-accretive customer expansion, globally leading broadband networks, and a customer-centric culture enabled us to achieve industry-best total customer net additions in the fourth quarter of 328,000, with 70,000 mobile phone customer additions, 194,000 connected devices, and 64,000 fixed net additions. Furthermore, this growth culminated in our third consecutive year of surpassing one million mobility and fixed customer additions, with a total of more than 1.2 million new customer additions. This performance is a testament to our unmatched bundled product offerings across Mobile and Home, powered by our PureFibre and wireless broadband networks. Indeed, our team’s passion for delivering customer service excellence contributed to continued strong loyalty across our key product lines, once again this quarter. Notably, postpaid mobile phone churn of 0.99 per cent for the full year marks the eleventh consecutive year at less than one per cent.”
“Within our global data businesses, our team is delivering strong results. In TELUS Health, our team achieved accelerated revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 10 per cent, fueled by strategic investments with strong execution in acquisitions, products, sales, and distribution channels. We also saw a 20 per cent Adjusted EBITDA contribution growth, driven by increased revenue and a focus on cost controls leveraging both technology and synergy enablers. Since acquiring LifeWorks, we have achieved $355 million in combined annualized synergies, inclusive of $294 million in cost synergies and $61 million in cross-selling, and we remain on track to deliver our stated goal of $427 million by year end 2025. Additionally, we drove a 9.6 per cent year-over-year increase in global lives covered to over 76 million. TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods demonstrated robust performance, with revenue increasing by 16 per cent, supported by increasing profitability and margin contributions. These results underscore our commitment to leveraging our unique global businesses to maximize shareholder value and progress our leadership in social capitalism, and we look forward to continuing the momentum in these businesses in 2025 and beyond.”
Darren further commented, “Our strategic investments in our leading broadband network, particularly in our highly valuable fibre and wireless assets, underpin the continued advancement of our financial and operational performance. These investments enable consistent, long-term profitable growth, supported by our unique asset base, customer experience leadership, and world-leading networks. This gives us confidence in the robust outlook for our business and our ability to deliver on the annual targets for 2025 that we announced today. These targets include TTech Operating Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA growth of up to 4 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively; Consolidated Free Cash Flow of approximately $2.15 billion; supported by moderating Consolidated Capital Expenditures of approximately $2.5 billion. Our team’s exceptional skill and execution excellence, alongside our attractive Free Cash Growth outlook, underpin our sustainable multi-year dividend growth program, now in its fifteenth year. This is buttressed by one of the lowest industry capital intensity ratios globally, alongside compelling monetization opportunities that we anticipate supporting meaningful deleveraging, also a key area of focus for 2025 and beyond. Indeed, we are targeting to achieve a net debt to EBITDA ratio of approximately 3-times in 2027, in conjunction with the contemporaneous removal of the discounted dividend re-investment plan, preceded by a ratcheting down of the plan in 2026. In May, per our established cycle, we will provide an update on our dividend growth program for 2026 through 2028 and, more generally, for the return of capital to shareholders.”
“Our TELUS team is equally committed to driving positive social outcomes in our communities,” continued Darren. “Demonstrating our passion for making the future friendly, our TELUS team members and retirees volunteered 1.5 million hours, globally, in 2024, marking our eighth consecutive year surpassing one million volunteer hours and making 2024 our most giving year ever. Since 2000, our TELUS family has volunteered 2.4 million days of giving – more than any other company in the world.”
Doug French, Executive Vice-president and CFO, said, “Our fourth quarter results underscore our consistent operational execution amidst a dynamic environment. We achieved TTech operating revenue growth of 4.1 per cent driven by mobile equipment and fixed data revenue growth, as well as strong financial contributions from our health and agriculture and consumer goods lines of service. Notably, TTech Adjusted EBITDA increased by 7 per cent in the fourth quarter, and for the full year, TTech Adjusted EBITDA growth was 5.5 per cent, achieving the low end of our full year target, demonstrating our unparalleled track record of execution excellence. This growth was driven by our consistent emphasis on profitable customer growth, the benefits from our ongoing focus on cost efficiency and effectiveness, gains from our real estate and copper monetization program, as well as increasing margin contribution from TELUS Health and TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods. Free cash flow of approximately $2.0 billion was slightly below our updated full year target from the effects of contract asset and device financing, associated with our strong growth in contracted volumes, and increased restructuring payments. This was partially offset by lower capital expenditures, which came in below our full year target."
"Our financial and balance sheet position remains healthy as we begin 2025. At the end of the fourth quarter, we had approximately $2.9 billion of available liquidity, an average cost of long-term debt of 4.37 per cent, and an average term to maturity of long-term debt of more than 10 years. We expect our net debt to EBITDA ratio to improve in 2025, supported by sustainable EBITDA growth and prudent capital allocation initiatives.”
"For 2025, we are confident in driving strong, sustainable growth despite a competitive market, supported by our robust asset mix and resilient business strategy. We anticipate continued free cash flow expansion underpinned by strong EBITDA growth and stable capital expenditures as we drive towards the 10 per cent capital intensity level. Our asset monetization opportunities, including our ongoing real estate and copper initiatives, as well as other strategic levers, will support our deleveraging plans and ensures we remain well-equipped to deliver strong, sustainable growth well into the future," concluded Doug.
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