Shaw Communications Inc.
Financial position
Total assets were $15.7 billion at February 28, 2022 compared to $15.8 billion at August 31, 2021. The following is a discussion of significant changes in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Position since August 31, 2021.
Current assets decreased $4 million primarily due to decreases in cash of $4 million, income taxes recoverable of $76 million, and the current portion of contract assets of $23 million, partially offset by increases in inventories of $6 million, accounts receivables of $60 million and other current assets of $33 million. Cash decreased primarily due to the payment of $296 million in dividends and cash outlays for investing activities, partially offset by funds flow from operations. Refer to “Liquidity and capital resources” for more information.
Accounts receivable increased $60 million mainly due to timing and the impact of the Company continuing to migrate customers from two-month advance billing to one-month advance billing.
The current portion of contract assets decreased $23 million over the period due to a $3 million decrease in deferred Wireline costs as a result of lower onboarding promotional activity for new subscribers over the past year and a $20 million decrease due to a decrease in Wireless subscribers participating in the Company’s discretionary wireless handset discount program over the past year. Under IFRS 15, up-front promotional offers, such as onboarding or switch credits, offered to new two-year value-plan customers are recorded as a contract asset and amortized over the life of the contract against future service revenues while the portion of the Wireless discount relating to the handset is applied against equipment revenue at the point in time that the handset is transferred to the customer while the portion relating to service revenue is recorded as a contract asset and amortized over the life of the contract against future service revenues.
Property, plant and equipment decreased $127 million as the amortization of capital and right-of-use assets exceeded the capital investments and additions to right-of-use assets in the period.
Current liabilities decreased $139 million during the period primarily due to a decrease in accounts payable of $131 million, current portion of contract liabilities of $9 million, and current portion of derivatives of $2 million. This decrease was partially offset by a $2 million increase in current portion of lease liabilities and a $1 million increase in current provisions.
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities decreased due to the timing of payments and fluctuations in various payables including capital expenditures, interest and employee incentive plans.
Lease liabilities decreased $47 million mainly due to principal repayments of $58 million in the period, partially offset by and an increase of $11 million in net new lease liabilities.
Shareholders’ equity increased $136 million mainly due to an increase in retained earnings. Retained earnings increased as the current period net income of $392 million was greater than the dividends of $296 million. Share capital increased $7 million due to the issuance of 251,880 and 10,085 Class B Shares under the Company’s stock option plan and RSU plan, respectively. Accumulated other comprehensive loss decreased $33 million primarily due to the remeasurement recorded on employee benefit plans.
As at March 31, 2022, there were 476,854,952 Class B Shares and 22,372,064 Class A Shares issued and outstanding. As at March 31, 2022, 7,149,432 Class B Shares were issuable on exercise of outstanding options. Shaw is traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and is included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (Trading Symbols: TSX – SJR.B, NYSE – SJR, and TSXV – SJR.A). For more information, please visit www.shaw.ca.
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