Telus Q1 Adjusted Earnings Edge Lower, But Beats Estimates

07:28 AM EDT, 05/08/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Telus ( TU ) reported Friday that first-quarter adjusted earnings edged lower but still beat forecasts.Adjusted net income, which most one-time items, contracted 8% to $356 million, or $0.23 per adjusted basic share, from $388 million, or $0.26 per share, in the prior year period. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected $0.22 per share.Consolidated operating revenue and other income edged down 1% to $5.0 billion, from $5.1 billion the year before, missing the $5.06 billion expected by analysts. Telus ( TU ) said higher consolidated service revenue growth of 1% was offset by lower Mobile equipment revenue and other income.The company reported total mobile and fixed customer growth of 262,000 driven by 12,000 mobile phone and 229,000 connected device net additions, along with 21,000 internet customer net additions, during the quarter.As of the end of the first quarter, healthcare lives covered in Telus Health were 169.6 million globally, up 93.1 million year over year. The increase also reflects the addition of 79.3 million lives covered from Telus' ( TU ) acquisition of Workplace Options last May. The company is reviewing strategic partnership opportunities for Telus ( TU ) and will use the proceeds from any monetization for deleveraging, chief executive Darren Entwhistle said.Telus ( TU ) will pay a regular quarterly dividend of $0.4184 per share on July 2, to shareholders of record on June 10.Telus ( TU ) separately announced that chief financial officer Doug French will retire on June 30. Gopi Chande, currently chief financial officer of Telus Digital and Telus Health, will assume the post on July 1. French will continue in an advisory capacity until July 31 and will chair the board of Telus' ( TU ) Terrion tower company.Telus ( TU ) shares were last seen down US$0.06, to US$12.84 in U.S. pre-market trading. MT Newswires does not provide investment advice. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.