BCE Q3 profit boosted by sale of minority stake in MLSE

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BCE Inc. reported a third-quarter profit compared with a loss a year ago as its results were boosted by the sale of its minority stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd.

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The company said its profit attributable to common shareholders for the quarter amounted to $4.50 billion or $4.84 per share compared with a loss of $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share in the same quarter last year.

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BCE said the year-over-year increase was mainly due to gains related to the sale of its minority stake in MLSE and lower impairment charges, partly offset by higher income taxes.

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Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $6.05 billion, up from $5.97 billion a year earlier.

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On an adjusted basis, BCE said it earned 79 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 75 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

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Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 72 cents per share, according to data provided by LSEG Data & Analytics.

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“Bell continues to deliver on its four strategic priorities: put the customer first, deliver the best fibre and wireless networks, lead in enterprise with AI-powered solutions, and build a digital media and content powerhouse,” said BCE president and CEO Mirko Bibic in a press release.

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“We are focused on the core areas that are delivering returns for our investors.”

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BCE had a net gain of 11,511 postpaid mobile phone subscribers in its third quarter, down 65.2 per cent from 33,111 net activations during the same period a year earlier. That continued a trend from recent quarters, which the company has consistently attributed to a “less active market,” slowing population growth because of federal immigration policies, and Bell’s own focus on “higher-value subscriber loadings.”

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The company said customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — was 1.13 per cent, an improvement from 1.28 per cent from a year ago, “reflecting our improvements to customer service and focus on retention.”

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BCE’s mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.04, down 0.4 per cent from $58.26 a year ago. It said that decrease was due to “ongoing but abating” competitive pricing pressures and greater discounting, lower data overage revenue from customers subscribing to unlimited or larger capacity data plans, and lower roaming revenue amid Canadian customers’ decreased travel to the United States.

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Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi said those wireless metrics were in line with overall expectations, despite somewhat disappointing postpaid subscriber additions.

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“The Canadian telco business unsurprisingly continued to exhibit weakish results, but we expect the recent price ups in wireless to begin to support results in 2026,” Yaghi said in a note.

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“We don’t expect consensus estimates to move much based on results from this quarter.”

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2025.

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Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

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