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."

"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 â?? 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.

As compared to the same period a year ago, net income in the quarter of $320 million was up 3.2 per cent and Basic earnings per share (EPS) of $0.24 increased by 20 per cent. These increases were driven by the after-tax impacts of growth in operating income partially offset by an increase in financing costs, driven by the impact of unrealized changes in virtual power purchase agreements forward element and higher interest expense.

As it relates to EPS, the increase also reflects the effect of a higher number of Common shares outstanding. When excluding certain costs and other adjustments (see 'Reconciliation of adjusted Net income' in this news release), adjusted net income of $380 million increased by 11 per cent over the same period last year, while adjusted basic EPS of $0.25 was up 4.2 per cent over the same period last year. Adjusted net income is a non-GAAP financial measure and adjusted basic EPS is a non-GAAP ratio. For further explanation of these measures, see 'Non-GAAP and other specified financial measures' in this news release.

Compared to the same period last year, consolidated EBITDA increased by 3.7 per cent to approximately $1.8 billion and reflects lower restructuring and other costs, primarily related to significant investments in cost efficiency and effectiveness programs, inclusive of real estate rationalization. Adjusted EBITDA decreased modestly by 0.6 per cent to more than $1.8 billion and reflects: (i) mobile, residential internet, security, and TV subscriber growth (excluding the first quarter 2024 Pik TV subscriber base adjustment); (ii) broad-based cost reduction efforts, including workforce reductions, synergies achieved between LifeWorks and our legacy health business, and increased adoption of TELUS Digital's solutions across TTech operations, resulting in competitive benefits given the lower cost structure in TELUS Digital, as well as reductions in administrative and marketing costs; (iii) higher gains on real estate and increases in reversals of business combination-related provision; (iv) higher health services margin; and (v) higher agriculture and consumer goods margins. These factors were partly offset by: (i) lower mobile phone ARPU; (ii) declining fixed legacy voice and TV margins; (iii) an increase in bad debt expense; (iv) higher network operations costs; (v) increased costs of subscription-based licences and cloud usage; and (vi) lower TELUS Digital Adjusted EBITDA driven in part by higher investments in corporate initiatives, such as expansion of its commercial sales team and operational effectiveness programs.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, we added 328,000 net customer additions, down 76,000 over the same period last year, and inclusive of 70,000 mobile phones and 194,000 connected devices, in addition to 37,000 internet, 27,000 TV and 10,000 security customer connections. This was partly offset by residential voice losses of 10,000. Our total TTech subscriber base of 20.2 million is up 5.9 per cent over the last twelve months, reflecting a 3.5 per cent increase in our mobile phones subscriber base to over 10.1 million and a 20 per cent increase in our connected devices subscriber base to over 3.7 million. Additionally, our internet connections grew by 5.1 per cent over the last twelve months to approximately 2.8 million customer connections, our TV customer base stands at approximately 1.4 million customer connections, and our security subscriber base increased by 6.1 per cent to more than 1.1 million customer connections. Our residential voice subscriber base declined slightly by 3.3 per cent to more than 1.0 million.

In health services, as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, virtual care members were 6.5 million and healthcare lives covered were 76.2 million, up 16 per cent and 9.6 per cent over the past twelve months, respectively. Digital health transactions in the fourth quarter of 2024 were 169.8 million, up 7.5 per cent over the fourth quarter of 2023.

Cash provided by operating activities of $1.1 billion decreased by 18 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024, primarily driven by other working capital changes and an increase in income taxes paid, net, partially offset by increased EBITDA.

Free cash flow of $534 million decreased by 10 per cent compared to the same period a year ago, reflecting the timing related to device subsidy repayments and associated revenue recognition and our TELUS Easy Payment device financing program, increased income taxes paid, and increased interest paid. These factors were partly offset by lower capital expenditures.

As at December 31, 2024, our 5G network covered approximately 32.3 million Canadians, representing over 87 per cent of the population.

Consolidated Financial Highlights

Fourth Quarter 2024 Operating Highlights

TELUS technology solutions (TTech)

Mobile products and services

Fixed products and services

Health services

Agriculture and consumer goods services

TELUS Digital

TELUS sets 2025 financial targets

TELUS' financial targets for 2025 are guided by a number of long-term financial objectives, policies and guidelines, which are detailed in Section 4.3 of the 2024 annual MD&A. With these policies in mind, our financial targets for 2025 are presented below.

The preceding disclosure respecting TELUS' 2025 financial targets is forward-looking information and is fully qualified by the 'Caution regarding forward-looking statements' in the 2024 annual MD&A filed on the date hereof on SEDAR+, especially Section 10 Risks and Risk Management thereof which is hereby incorporated by reference, and is based on management's expectations and assumptions as set out in Section 9.3 TELUS assumptions for 2025 in the 2024 annual MD&A. This disclosure is presented for the purpose of assisting our investors and others in understanding certain key elements of our expected 2025 financial results as well as our objectives, strategic priorities and business outlook. Such information may not be appropriate for other purposes.

Dividend Declaration

The TELUS Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4023 per share on the issued and outstanding Common Shares of the Company payable on April 1, 2025 to holders of record at the close of business on March 11, 2025. This quarterly dividend reflects an increase of 7.0 per cent from the $0.3761 per share dividend declared one year earlier and consistent with our multi-year dividend growth program. When a dividend payment date falls on a weekend or holiday, the payment shall be made on the next succeeding day that is a business day.

Corporate HighlightsTELUS makes significant contributions and investments in the communities where team members live, work and serve and to the Canadian economy on behalf of customers, shareholders and team members. These include:

Community HighlightsEmpowering Canadians with Connectivity

Giving Back to Our Communities

Leading in ESG and Sustainability

Investing in Social Impact

Global Awards and Third Party Recognition

Access to Quarterly results informationInterested investors, the media and others may review this quarterly earnings news release, management's discussion and analysis, quarterly results slides, audio and transcript of the investor webcast call, supplementary financial information at telus.com/investors.

TELUS' fourth quarter 2024 conference call is scheduled for Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 12:30 pm ET (9:30 am PT) and will feature a presentation followed by a question and answer period with investment analysts. Interested parties can access the webcast at telus.com/investors. An audio recording will be available approximately 60 minutes after the call until March 13, 2025 at 1-855-201-2300. Please quote conference access code 77442# and playback access code 77442#. An archive of the webcast will also be available at telus.com/investors and a transcript will be posted on the website within a few business days.

Caution regarding forward-looking statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements about expected events and the financial and operating performance of TELUS Corporation. The terms TELUS, the Company, we, us and our refer to TELUS Corporation and, where the context of the narrative permits or requires, its subsidiaries. Forward-looking statements include any statements that do not refer to historical facts. They include, but are not limited to, statements relating to our objectives and our strategies to achieve those objectives, our expectations regarding trends in the telecommunications industry (including demand for data and ongoing subscriber base growth), and our financing plans (including our planned leverage ratio in 2027, our multi-year dividend growth program and our approach to reducing the discount offered under our dividend re-investment plan). Forward-looking statements are typically identified by the words assumption, goal, guidance, objective, outlook, strategy, target and other similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as aim, anticipate, believe, could, expect, intend, may, plan, predict, seek, should, strive and will. These statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbour" provisions of applicable securities laws in Canada and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties and are based on assumptions, including assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action. These assumptions may ultimately prove to have been inaccurate and, as a result, our actual results or events may differ materially from expectations expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Our general outlook and assumptions for 2025 are presented in Section 9 General trends, outlook and assumptions, and regulatory developments and proceedings in our 2024 annual Management's discussion and analysis (MD&A).

Our assumptions in support of our 2025 outlook are generally based on industry analysis, including our estimates regarding economic and telecom industry growth, as well as our 2024 results and trends discussed in Section 5 in our 2024 annual MD&A. Our 2025 key assumptions are listed below and in Section 9.3 TELUS assumptions for 2025 in the 2024 annual MD&A:

The extent to which the economic growth estimates affect us and the timing of their impact will depend upon the actual experience of specific sectors of the Canadian economy.

Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made herein and in other TELUS filings include, but are not limited to, the following:

The assumptions underlying our forward-looking statements are described in additional detail in Section 9 General trends, outlook and assumptions, and regulatory developments and proceedings and Section 10 Risks and risk management in our 2024 annual MD&A. Those descriptions are incorporated by reference in this cautionary statement but are not intended to be a complete list of the risks that could affect the Company, or of our assumptions.

Additional risks and uncertainties that are not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial may also have a material adverse effect on our financial position, financial performance, cash flows, business or reputation. Except as otherwise indicated in this document, the forward-looking statements made herein do not reflect the potential impact of any non-recurring or special items or any mergers, acquisitions, dispositions or other business combinations or transactions that may be announced or that may occur after the date of this document.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this document describe our expectations, and are based on our assumptions, as at the date of this document and are subject to change after this date. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by law.

This cautionary statement qualifies all of the forward-looking statements in this document.

Non-GAAP and other specified financial measures

We have issued guidance on and report certain non-GAAP measures that are used to evaluate the performance of TELUS, as well as to determine compliance with debt covenants and to manage our capital structure. As non-GAAP measures generally do not have a standardized meaning, they may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. For certain financial metrics, there are definitional differences between TELUS and TELUS Digital Experience reporting. These differences largely arise from TELUS Digital adopting definitions consistent with practice in its industry. Securities regulations require such measures to be clearly defined, qualified and reconciled with their nearest GAAP measure. Certain of the metrics do not have generally accepted industry definitions.

Adjusted Net income and adjusted basic earnings per share (EPS): These are non-GAAP measures that do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS Accounting Standards and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Adjusted Net income excludes the effects of restructuring and other costs, income tax-related adjustments, long-term debt prepayment premium and other adjustments (identified in the following tables). Effective for 2024, with retrospective application, we have revised our definition of adjusted Net income to remove other equity (income) losses related to real estate joint ventures to conform with the way management currently evaluates performance. Adjusted basic earnings per share is calculated as adjusted net income divided by basic weighted-average common shares outstanding. These measures are used to evaluate performance at a consolidated level and exclude items that, in management's view, may obscure underlying trends in business performance or items of an unusual nature that do not reflect our ongoing operations. They should not be considered alternatives to Net income and basic earnings per share in measuring TELUS' performance.

Reconciliation of adjusted Net income

Reconciliation of adjusted basic EPS

EBITDA (earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization): We have issued guidance on and report EBITDA because it is a key measure used to evaluate performance at a consolidated level. EBITDA is commonly reported and widely used by investors and lending institutions as an indicator of a company's operating performance and ability to incur and service debt, and as a valuation metric. EBITDA should not be considered an alternative to Net income in measuring TELUS' performance, nor should it be used as a measure of cash flow. EBITDA as calculated by TELUS is equivalent to Operating revenues and other income less the total of Goods and services purchased expense and Employee benefits expense.

We also calculate Adjusted EBITDA to exclude items of an unusual nature that do not reflect our ongoing operations and should not, in our opinion, be considered in a long-term valuation metric or should not be included in an assessment of our ability to service or incur debt.

Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditures is calculated for our reportable segments, as it represents a performance measure that may be more comparable to similar measurees presented by other issuers.

Free cash flow: We report this measure as a supplementary indicator of our operating performance, and there is no generally accepted industry definition of free cash flow. It should not be considered as an alternative to the measures in the Consolidated statements of cash flows. Free cash flow excludes certain working capital changes (such as trade receivables and trade payables), proceeds from divested assets and other sources and uses of cash, as reported in the Consolidated statements of cash flows. It provides an indication of how much cash generated by operations is available after capital expenditures that may be used to, among other things, pay dividends, repay debt, purchase shares or make other investments. We exclude impacts of accounting standards that do not impact cash, such as IFRS 15 and IFRS 16. Free cash flow may be supplemented from time to time by proceeds from divested assets or financing activities.

 

Mobile phone average revenue per subscriber per month (ARPU) is calculated as network revenue derived from monthly service plan, roaming and usage charges; divided by the average number of mobile phone subscribers on the network during the period, and is expressed as a rate per month.

Appendix

Operating revenues and other income â?? TTech segment

Operating revenues and other income â?? TELUS digital experience segment

About TELUSTELUS (TSX: T, NYSE: TU) is a world-leading communications technology company, generating over $20 billion in annual revenue and connecting more than 20 million customers through our advanced suite of broadband services for consumers, businesses and the public sector. We are committed to leveraging our technology to enable remarkable human outcomes. TELUS is passionate about putting our customers and communities first, leading the way globally in client service excellence and social capitalism. Our TELUS Health business is enhancing 76 million lives worldwide through innovative preventive medicine and         well-being technologies. Our TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods business utilizes digital technologies and data insights to optimize the connection between producers and consumers. Guided by our enduring 'give where we live' philosophy, TELUS and our 140,000 team members have contributed $1.7 billion and volunteered 2.2 million days of service since 2000, earning us the distinction of the world's most giving company. For more information, visit telus.com or follow @TELUSNews on X and @Darren_Entwistle on Instagram.

Investor RelationsRobert Mitchell(647) 837-1606ir@telus.com

Media RelationsSteve Beisswanger(514) 865-2787Steve.Beisswanger@telus.com

SOURCE TELUS Corporation

SOURCE: TELUS Corporation

SOURCE: TELUS Communications Inc.

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