CEO letter to investors
Dear fellow investor
In 2006, we experienced a year of exciting growth and opportunity for TELUS. Due to a solid financial and business foundation, increasing benefits of integration and innovative service offerings, we are growing together...for our investors, customers, team members and the communities we serve.
Successfully progressing our national growth strategy
Through the dedicated commitment of the TELUS team and a keen focus on our core business, we continued to advance successfully our national growth strategy in 2006, resulting in leading financial performance amongst our global telecommunications peers.
Indicative of our success, in emerging as a national company, is the growth of the TELUS team in Ontario and Quebec since 2000. Our team has grown from approximately 300 to almost 10,000 members.
TELUS' winning strategy, superior asset mix, operational excellence and strong growth profile have remained intact for the past six years and we intend to continue delivering leading performance in the years ahead.
Delivering sustained growth for investors
TELUS' consistent strategy, coupled with our execution to plan, has enabled your company to again generate strong earnings growth in 2006.
During the past four years, TELUS produced top-quartile results amongst our incumbent global telecom peers in growth of revenue, operating earnings and earnings per share (EPS). This has led to TELUS' share price outperforming incumbent telecommunications companies worldwide over this four-year period.
In 2006, revenue and operating earnings (EBITDA) were up seven and nine per cent, respectively. Net income increased by $422 million to $1.1 billion or $3.27 on an EPS basis. Free cash flow also increased by nine per cent to $1.6 billion.
We are continuing to return capital to investors based on our commitment to balance the interests of debt holders and shareholders. TELUS instituted a 36 per cent increase in our dividend – a third consecutive sizeable increase – to a new all-time high of $1.50 on an annualized basis. We are also continuing our share repurchase programs as part of an ongoing effort to reduce our share base and increase the value of the remaining shares. Since December 2004, a total of 39.4 million shares have been repurchased for $1.77 billion.