2020 Annual Report Contents
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
1 Report to Shareholders 3 Management’s Discussion and Analysis 76 Share Capital and Listings 79 Management’s Responsibility for Financial Statements and Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting 80 Independent Auditors’ Reports 83 Consolidated Financial Statements 132 Corporate Information Dear Fellow Shareholders: Fiscal 2020 marked an unprecedented year for our Company, our country and for people around the world with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. While it caused significant uncertainty and brought about rapid change in virtually every aspect of our lives, it also highlighted the resiliency and financial strength of our Company as well as the critical nature of our highly capable facilities-based infrastructure, which exists today because of our long history of significant investments in our network for the benefit of Canadians and our economy. As the pandemic intensified throughout 2020, our priority was the safety of our employees and customers and supporting the communities in which we serve. We quickly transitioned the majority of our employees to work from home, where they remain productive, engaged and focused on providing a continuous high-quality connectivity experience for our customers, even as data traffic and peak usage soared. As a responsible corporate citizen, we took decisive action to provide additional free services, financial resources as well as devices and connectivity to our communities and those most impacted by the pandemic. We entered this crisis from a position of strength and the strategic plan that we have been executing over several years was key to our solid performance over this rapidly evolving and uncertain period. Our purpose is in connecting customers to the world through a best-in-class seamless connectivity experience and this year was no exception. While managing through a global pandemic, we also introduced new products and services for our customers by leveraging our converging wireline and wireless networks which are innovative, affordable and stay ahead of customer expectations. Despite the unique and challenging environment, our consistent focus on this strategy and continued significant capital investments in excess of $1 billion, supported year-over-year growth in our business and a nearly 40% increase in free cash flow, exceeding our financial commitments for the year. Wireless Our efforts continue to focus on scaling our Wireless business through driving an overall enhanced customer experience and delivering Canadians better value. Fiscal 2020 saw the continued investments in vital areas such as spectrum deployment, foundational investments for the delivery of 5G services, further expansion of our retail presence and the exciting launch of Shaw Mobile, despite the challenging background. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the temporary closure of the vast majority of our retail network, impacting Wireless customer growth, resulting in approximately 160,000 new Wireless customers in fiscal 2020; however, it also showcased our strong operating leverage as we delayed new customer acquisition investments during this lower growth period. Wireless service revenue grew an impressive 17.4% to $815 million, a key factor supporting our improved Wireless margin in the year. Our wireless strategy continues to focus on increasing our market share, particularly in western Canada with the addition of Shaw Mobile, and improving Wireless profitability. The launch of Shaw Mobile on July 30, 2020 was a significant milestone that will fuel the next chapter of our wireless growth story. Shaw Mobile provides Shaw Internet customers with bundling opportunities to take advantage of unprecedented savings, combined with the ability to customize their mobile data requirements through two rate plans – By The Gig and Unlimited Data. Shaw Mobile is a powerful example of how facilities-based service providers can compete and innovate to deliver true wireless affordability. As we expand our retail presence, Shaw Mobile is now available in 24 Shaw retail locations and, combined with our national retail partner stores, over 140 locations in Alberta and British Columbia. Freedom Mobile continues to be available in over 700 retail locations. Wireline Our Wireline business delivered another year of consistent and stable performance, including margin improvement in the face of COVID-19 adversity. As customers moved their offices and classrooms home, our extensive Fibre+ network was the true workhorse maintaining these critical connections, without interruption. In the second half of fiscal 2020, we experienced a dramatic increase in data traffic by up to 50% and extended peak hours of usage; however, years of network related investments, including Shaw’s industry leading Mid-Split program, had us well prepared to handle the surge in demand. In fact, not only did we maintain our high-quality network performance in fiscal 2020, we introduced even faster Internet speeds to our customers with the launch of Shaw Fibre+ Gig Internet to over 99% of our Wireless customer footprint in western Canada. Long before we entered this new environment, where we must practice social distancing, we recognized that we needed to evolve towards becoming a digital-first organization and we continued to advance initiatives that quickly became a strategic differentiator for Shaw. A key tenet of this strategy was to drive the adoption of customer self-install, which increased significantly, reaching 79% in the last quarter of fiscal 2020 compared to 45% in the prior year, allowing new and existing customers to get the latest broadband technology from Shaw without having to schedule an appointment. Report to Shareholders Shaw Communications Inc. 1 Shaw Business encountered new challenges this year as businesses across the country were faced with a difficult environment due to the pandemic. Our role as a trusted advisor along with the strength of our network and Smart suite product offering, including new services to meet the demands for more robust work from home solutions, reinforce our strong position in the market. Looking ahead We have successfully demonstrated the resilient nature of our business, our agility in operating in this environment and our ability to deliver growth throughout one of the most unique and challenging years in our history. In addition to navigating a new environment brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are also sadly forging ahead without our Company founder, JR Shaw, who passed in March of this year. His stewardship, guidance, and insight have been missed over this difficult period; however, his unwavering commitment and passion to provide an exceptional customer experience remains forever engrained in our culture. As we embrace a new year, we will continue to enhance the customer experience by leveraging our new and innovative Shaw Mobile wireless service to deepen our relationship with existing customers and welcome new ones. We will deliver better and faster services through new technology, expanded distribution, and additional digital capabilities. These developments are made possible through the continued investment in our critical infrastructure to stay ahead of customer expectations, including the deployment of 600 MHz spectrum and advancing our 5G capabilities in fiscal 2021. While we still face elevated levels of uncertainty, including COVID-19 related impacts, commodity pricing related challenges, key regulatory decisions, and an intensifying competitive environment, we are uniquely positioned to drive better value for all our stakeholders. This includes additional transparency into our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives in our forthcoming ESG report and the critical role it plays in shaping our strategy. By more formally addressing the needs of all our stakeholders, we can thrive in this new environment. Our strong balance sheet enables us to continue making critical investments and our focus on ‘brighter together’ growth opportunities will drive further efficiencies and contribute to strong and sustainable free cash flow growth and capital return initiatives. In closing, I would like to extend my gratitude to our Board of Directors, for their invaluable leadership and insight, as well as the entire Shaw team of approximately 9,500 employees for their unwavering dedication throughout this truly exceptional year. [Signed] Bradley S. Shaw Executive Chair & Chief Executive Officer 2 Shaw Communications Inc. 2020 Annual Report Contents About our Business 7 Government Regulations & Regulatory Developments 33 Key Performance Drivers 41 Critical Accounting Policies & Estimates 44 Related Party Transactions 49 New Accounting Standards 50 Risk Management 52 Known Events, Trends, Risks & Uncertainties 52 Summary of Quarterly Results 62 Results of Operations 66 Segmented Operations Overview 69 Financial Position 71 Consolidated Cash Flow Analysis 72 Liquidity and Capital Resources 73 Additional Information 77 Management’s Discussion & Analysis Shaw Communications Inc. 3 Forward or regulators on the Company’s business, operations, and/ or financial performance or the markets in which the Tabular dollar amounts are in millions of Canadian dollars, Company operates; except per share amounts or unless otherwise indicated. This • the expected impact of any emergency measures Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) should be read implemented by governments or regulators; in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements. The terms “we,” “us,” “our,” “Shaw”