The pressures Portugal’s tough competitive environment are beginning to ease, according to Louis Audet, president and CEO of Cogeco, the Canadian owner of the Cabovisao cable network.
“While Europe’s economic difficulties persist, the competitive situation in Portugal appears to be settling down. In part, we ascribe this to the retention strategy adopted by Cogeco Cable in fiscal 2009,” Audet said in a statement coinciding with the publication of the company’s third quarter 2010 financials to the period ending May 31, 2010.
The company said it believed the financial problems that have beset Portugal for the last two years were beginning to ease and this would lead to revenue increases during the 2011 financial year. For the time being the downward trends continues. Revenues of C$43,616 (€32,962) in the three months to May 2010 comparing with C$57,571 in the same period in 2009.
Cabovisao’s third quarter results show a return to customer growth with Basic Cable service customers increasing by 498 customers compared to a loss of 11,394 customers in the previous year. However, in the first nine months of the fiscal year, Basic Cable customer losses amounted to 804 compared to 31,337 in the 2009 fiscal year.
The number of Digital Television service customers grew by 16,779 customers in the third quarter and by 45,082 customers in the nine months ended May 31, 2010, compared to 8,255 and 54,845 customers in the three and nine month periods ended May 31 of the previous fiscal year.
