SaskTel is posting a net income of $119.8 million in 2019-2020 as the province’s Crown corporations continue to release their annual reports this week.
It’s short of their 2019-2020 target of $129.5 million and their 2018-2019 result of $127.4 million.
The company is not sure how much of an impact COVID-19 will have on the financials, but Minister responsible for SaskTel Don Morgan expects it will be “significantly negative”.
In the annual report, SaskTel said an impairment loss of $10.7 million in the fourth quarter was the reason why income took a hit. SaskTel noted that it’s a result of the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic on declining marketing services revenue and the related future cash flows.
SaskTel President and CEO Doug Burnett agreed that the pandemic has undoubtedly impacted the company in a number of ways. He spoke about Burnett said obstacles they have faced in recent months from less business with companies to having 90 per cent of their employees working from home during the height of the pandemic.
Expecting more obstacles to be present moving forward, Burnett said they will work hard to try and make up for the shortfall to the greatest extent.
“The bottom line is this will have a negative impact on our financial results this year. The extent to which will come home to roost is still to be determined.”
Operating revenues were at $1,283.7 million, which the company said is a year-over-year revenue growth of $5.8 million. SaskTel stated in their report that revenue is composed primarily of wireless network services and equipment revenue (44.9 per cent), maxTV service, internet and data (29.4 per cent) and local access, enhanced services and long distance (15.2 per cent).
SaskTel paid dividends of $107.2 million to Crown Investment Corporation during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, a decrease of $9.1 million from the previous year. During the last five fiscal years, SaskTel paid a total of $373.4 million in dividends while maintaining a debt ratio within industry standards.
