MONTREAL - Quebecor Inc. raised its quarterly dividend nine per cent after reporting steady results in the fourth quarter with net income attributable to shareholders rising slightly to $160.5 million.

The Quebec-based telecommunications company says it will pay a dividend of 30 cents per share on April 5, up from 27.5 cents.

Its earnings increased three cents to 67 cents per share, while adjusted profits from continuing operations were flat at 66 cents per share.

Revenues for the three months ended Dec. 31 increased 3.2 per cent to $1.18 billion from $1.15 billion a year earlier.

Quebecor was expected to report 70 cents per share in adjusted profit on $1.17 billion of revenues, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.

For the full-year, net income attributable to shareholder slipped to $578.4 million or $2.38 per share from $607.2 million or $2.41 per share, while revenues increased 5.5 per cent to $4.55 billion. Adjusted profits rose to $2.55 per share, three cents per share below analyst forecasts, but up from $2.36 per share in 2020.

“In the 2021 financial year, operating in an environment of ongoing and particularly intense competition in the Quebec telecom industry, we posted increases of 5.5 per cent in revenue, 1.1 per cent in adjusted EBITDA and 5.3 per cent in adjusted cash flows from operations,'' stated CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau in a news release.