Cogeco Communications Inc. (CCA) Q2 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good day and welcome to the Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications Inc. Q2 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Patrice Ouimet, Chief Financial Officer of Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications Inc. Please go ahead, Mr. Ouimet. Thank you. So good morning, everyone. Welcome to our second quarter results conference call. So as usual, before we begin the call, I'd like to remind listeners that today's discussion will include estimates and other forward-looking information. We ask that you review the cautionary language in the press releases and MD&A issued yesterday, as well as in our annual reports regarding the various risks, assumptions, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ. With that, I will now pass the line to Fred Perron for opening remarks. Thank you, Patrice, and good morning, everyone. We're pleased to share our Q2 results today and also provide an update on our transformation. As a reminder, our plan is to create additional shareholder value by increasing our cash flow, sustaining our dividend growth, and reducing our debt. with the option of also resuming share buybacks at one point in the future. Now, more specifically, we expect free cash flow to grow materially over the next two years, and let me be clear, this is not just an aspiration, it's a plan. This increase in cash flow will be enabled, in particular, by the natural end of a CapEx investment cycle in rural network-built and, to a lesser extent, network modernization efforts having reached our objectives. In addition, our relatively low dividend payout ratio as a percentage of cash flow provides sustainability and room for continued dividend growth. During the second quarter, we continu...