Good morning. My name is Joelle and I will be your Conference Operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Blue Ant Media Q2 fiscal 2026 conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Instructions on how to queue up to ask questions will be given at that time. A reminder that for the purpose of the recording, today is Tuesday, April 14th, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Madeleine Cohen, Head of Investor Relations for Blue Ant. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Joelle, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Blue Ant Media's Q2 2026 conference call for the period ended February 28th, 2026. Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that today's remarks include non-IFRS measures, specifically Adjusted EBITDA. These should be considered a supplement to, and not a substitute for, IFRS financial measures. Reconciliations between the two and relevant disclaimers can be found in our earnings press release, which is available on our investor website. The company will make forward-looking statements on our call today that are based on assumptions and therefore subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those projected. The company undertakes no obligation to update these statements except as required by law.
description of the risks and uncertainties that may affect future results is contained in our Q2 2026 MD&A and our Annual Information Form dated November 26th, 2025, available on SEDAR+. Finally, please note that all amounts discussed today are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. With that, I will turn the call over to Michael.
Thanks, Madeleine, and good morning, everybody. 2026 is a transformation year for Blue Ant as we position the company for sustainable long-term growth, meaningful profitability, and cash generation. In addition to going public, we've completed three strategic acquisitions over the past seven months, most recently Thunderbird Entertainment in January. These acquisitions, combined with our existing business, have more than doubled our revenue base and significantly expanded the scale of our studio and rights businesses. Following the Thunderbird acquisition, we repositioned Blue Ant Studios, which is our production and distribution business, by streamlining our studio branding, strengthening our senior leadership team, and aligning our operations by genres, being unscripted, kids, family and young adult, and reality competition and large-scale franchises. These changes better support development, production, and global content monetization. As part of this transition, we sunset the legacy studio brands Thunderbird Entertainment, Great Pacific Media, and Proper Television.
This new structure better reflects how content is developed, financed, and produced in today's global market, and positions us clearly as a unified studio. Our Q2 results are beginning to demonstrate our new scale and structure, particularly in the top line. Consolidated revenue was CAD 70 million, an 82% increase from Q2 2025. As expected, our Adjusted EBITDA is reflective of the significant integration work that is underway. It also reflects timing and product mix, that is non-owned versus owned IP, for example, and an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop, which has had a knock-on effect on many parts of our industry, chiefly the advertising market. As a result, Q2 Adjusted EBITDA was CAD 3.8 million, compared to CAD 4.1 million in the prior year period.
We expect margins to continue to improve as we execute on our plan to realize CAD 7 million in synergies from Thunderbird to eliminate duplicative costs across our business and further integrate our operations. As we've noted previously, Blue Ant's results are typically weighted towards the back half of our fiscal year, and we continue to expect a similar trajectory in 2026. Historically, Blue Ant has been a seasonal business influenced by advertising and television industry cycles. While content can be greenlit, produced, and delivered throughout the year, live action greenlights are generally concentrated in the spring for spring and summer shoots and fall launches. Spring and summer also tend to be particularly active periods for our distribution business as they close out initial sales on fall content launches from the previous year. Q3 is also our most substantial quarter for consumer shows.
The result of these structural factors is light first and second quarters and heavy third and fourth quarters for Blue Ant. As we optimize our operating structure, we remain well capitalized with strong liquidity and modest leverage. As anticipated, post-quarter-end, we received the full CAD 34.7 million value assurance capital contribution from Fairfax Financial in connection with our go-public transaction. We believe that our capital strength and the powerful new combination of our businesses position us well for long-term growth. I'll now turn the call over to our CFO, Robb Chase, who'll provide more commentary on our financial results. Robb.
Thanks, Michael, and good morning. As Michael mentioned, our Q2 results reflect both our increased scale and our current position in the integration cycle. With only one month of owning Thunderbird and seven months for our other acquisitions, we've already taken actions to achieve the run rate of CAD 7 million synergies planned for Thunderbird, while continuing to optimize our structure and cost base.
We expect to carry on and build our momentum in the coming months. Consolidated Q2 2026 revenue was CAD 70 million compared to CAD 38.4 million in the prior year period, an 82% increase. This growth was driven primarily by our Production and Distribution segment, reflecting the addition of three production companies through the go public transaction, as well as one month of contribution from Thunderbird. Global Channels and Streaming also delivered solid growth. Net income reflects the impact of our recent acquisition activity, including transaction, restructuring, and share-based compensation costs totaling CAD 7.4 million, for which there were no comparable costs in the prior year. As a result, we reported a net loss of CAD 6.2 million in Q2 2026 compared to CAD 5 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA was CAD 3.8 million compared to CAD 4.1 million in the prior year period.
I'll now provide more detail on our segment performance. Global Channels and Streaming generated CAD 22.1 million in revenue in Q2, up 27% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA was CAD 4.9 million, up 51% yea r-over-year. Media Pulse, our smart TV ad sales business, continues to be a strong contributor to our earnings. We also enjoyed subscriber growth on MagellanTV's SVOD service, which has been a strategic new addition to our streaming portfolio. Despite solid performance this quarter, there is no doubt that we are operating in a softer advertising market. This environment impacted our Canadian media segment with Q2 revenue of CAD 10.5 million compared to CAD 12.2 million in the prior year period. Despite this decline, disciplined cost management resulted in relatively flat Adjusted EBITDA of CAD 2.2 million year-over-year.
In Production and Distribution, Q2 2026 revenue was CAD 37.4 million versus CAD 8.8 million in the prior year period, driven by significantly higher production activity from our newly acquired businesses. The Adjusted EBITDA loss of CAD 130,000 compared to a loss of about half a million dollars in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA this quarter reflects our current cost structure, product mix, and timing across both production and distribution activities. Our balance sheet remains very strong. We closed Q2 with CAD 51 million of cash and CAD 41.7 million of bank indebtedness, excluding normal course interim production financing. Subsequent to the quarter end, we received the CAD 34.7 million value assurance capital contribution from Fairfax and repaid the majority of the CAD 40 million cash draw used to fund the Thunderbird acquisition as had been planned.
You will see these movements in our Q3 numbers. The result is healthy cash reserves and significant undrawn capacity under our corporate facilities, which provide us even greater stability and flexibility as we navigate a more volatile macroeconomic environment. With that, I'll turn the call back to Michael for closing remarks.
Thanks, Robb. We are excited about the Blue Ant that we're building. We've moved quickly in our first several months as a public company, and we intend to maintain that momentum. While integration is compressing margins in the near term, it's also laying the foundation for a business with greater scale, a more efficient cost structure, increased diversification, and stronger long-term earnings power. Our combination of assets, strong balance sheet, and experienced team enable us to not only navigate market volatility, but to capitalize on it. In particular, current market conditions create acquisition opportunities at attractive valuations, opportunities which Blue Ant is well-positioned to capitalize on. We will continue building a strong Blue Ant in step with an evolving industry and look forward to updating you on our progress next quarter. Now let's open the call up to see if there's questions. Operator?
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by the one on your touch-tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. Your first question comes from Ahmed Abdullah with National Bank of Canada. Your line is now open.
Yeah, good morning, and thank you for taking my question. Just backing out some of the M&A that has happened and the results that were reported this morning, it looks like your legacy assets are pointing to an organic decline of about 17%. How should we think about that versus your prior-year estimates, sorry, versus your prior-year results? Was there any one-time items that we should be considering?
Yeah, Ahmed, it's a good question. I think what's really happening is we talked about the first half being light. We have all of the cost structure of the companies we've acquired without really the benefit yet of revenue. It's really hard to take this one quarter, I think, and read what's the underlying organic performance. We're also in the process of integrating the combination of the new acquisitions on the studio side into the business and MagellanTV into Global Channels and Streaming. I think taking that one quarter and extrapolating forward, it's not really indicative of how we're looking at the organic business at this point.
I would just add, it's Mike here, Ahmed. As well as Thunderbird being acquired at the end of January and the cost coming in, we were not able to make changes at the three production companies we acquired via the go-public transaction because we were awaiting the tabulation on the Fairfax value assurance payment at December 31st last year. None of any changes out of that could happen until recently. That just is another example of what Robb's talking about.
Okay, thanks. Just looking at the market and your commentary around ad softness, can you give us some color as to how that's looking already as you're into Q3?
I guess there's a couple things there. One is in the Canadian linear broadcast advertising market. There's no real change. It's been a tough year, and we don't see any immediate good news to report to you on that front. We're seeing the same trends continue right now. The other part of advertising is the streaming advertising market, mostly in the U.S., but everywhere. There, it's the facts of significant growth in viewership of ad-supported streaming products, be it FAST, AVOD or subscription streaming with ads like Netflix and Prime Video, huge growth and audience growth and ratings growth in that, and therefore more ad avails for sale. As the advertising industry moves over to meet those avails, currently it's depressed CPMs over the past year.
We think that will catch up, and that's why it's not a contradiction, but two facts. Viewership of FAST, AVOD and subscription streaming with ads is way up. Viewership is way up, and CPMs are soft for exactly the reason that I'm saying. We think that trend, we assume it'll continue for a while, but eventually catch up and right itself. Perhaps a longer answer than you wanted, but there are two distinct aspects to it.
Okay. That's good color. On the CAD 7 million of synergies, now that you're into Q3, again, how far into it are you? Is the timeline still the same for those synergies? Can you remind us what the timeline is?
Yeah. We're looking to accomplish that run rate savings within 12 months of the closing of the transaction on that, and we very much are on track. We have most of the run rate in hand with actions we've already taken and clear visibility on the full amount.
All right, that's good. Thank you. That's it for me. I'll queue back up.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, should you have a question, please press star one. Your next question comes from David McFadgen with Cormark Securities. Your line is now open.
All right. Hi, guys. A couple questions. I'm just looking at the Global Channels and Streaming revenue is up 27%. Is that net of, say, the FAST advertising revenue actually being down? Was it down in the quarter, or just wondering what's happened with the various layers in there?
tags. One last check on "Mike". If I change "Mike" to "Michael", am I "correcting an error"? "Mike" is not an error. It's a name. If I change "Mike" to "Michael MacMillan", am I "expanding"? Yes. "do not expand acronym to its full name unless the full name was explicitly uttered". This applies to acronyms, but the principle of not adding words is general. "Do not add words to a name the speaker abbreviated". So "Mike" stays "Mike". Wait, "FAST". Is it an acronym? Yes. "Free Ad-supported Streaming TV". Should it be "FAST"? Yes, glossary says "FAST". Wait, "Media Pulse". Glossary says "Media Pulse". Wait, "MagellanTV". Glossary says "MagellanTV". Wait, "ad sales business". Is "ad" an abbreviation for "advertising"? Yes. Should I expand it? No. "Retain acronyms, abbreviations, and shorthand as spoken". Wait, "CPMs", "AVOD", "SVOD". These are in the glossary but not in this excerpt. Wait, "CAD (primary)". "USD - all amounts discussed today are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated". There are no monetary amounts
The FAST ad revenue actually did decline a little bit in Q2?
Yeah, that's right.
If it was up, then would you have had growth of 30%-40%?
Well, we're looking forward to that. Exactly.
Okay. No, it's a question. Would it have been in that 30%-40% range if the FAST ad revenue was up?
I guess it would've depended on how much it was up. It wasn't up. It was down a little bit. We're looking forward to the day it's going to go back up.
Okay. Any visibility on that or it's tough to say right now?
No. Robb might want to add to that. As I was mentioning in reply to Ahmed's question, the viewership of streaming with ads is up, FAST, AVOD, and subscription with ads. It's up remarkably. The ad avails are enormous, and it's sort of the same story or same situation we've been talking about for several months now. The movement of advertisers buying the ads hasn't yet met the significant ratings available to purchase. We wait enthusiastically for that to happen. Generally speaking, that does follow, and we think it will follow, but right now it's caused a softness in the CPMs, even though the viewership is up.
Okay. All right. The cost synergies from Thunderbird, will those be reflected in the production and distribution EBITDA?
Yeah. Some will be.
They will partly, David. Some of them will be in our corporate costs, and some of them will be in the Production and Distribution segment. Some of the costs are duplicative public company costs, which would have been at a corporate level, and a number of them are staff reductions that would reflect within the Production and Distribution segment.
Okay. In light of the Q2 results, in your view and your opinion, has your full-year outlook changed at all?
Well, it's hard to say. I think our general trends are what we've seen before. We knew we would have a skinny first and second quarter, which for the reasons that I've said. What's not clear is will the ad market improve during this fiscal? It is hard to see. Our visibility on that isn't great. Mind you, it never has been great, so that's not different. The industry is also still in some sort of recovery from the peak TV era of a few years ago, so greenlights are a bit slower. We're getting them. It's great. We would be reluctant to say too much more about our expectations for the rest of the year, except generally speaking, we're very pleased with where we are, and we think we're on track for a very strong year.
Okay.
Robb, do you want to add to that?
Yeah, I guess, David, the flip side of the industry challenge is we're seeing corporate development and M&A opportunities, and there's a lot of activity there. We remain focused on opportunities that fit our strategic criteria and would be accretive.
Well-
One moment, please. This is the Operator. We are having technical difficulties. One moment, please.
Hello?
Hello, this is Joelle, the Operator. You're back into the conference.
Yeah, I'm sorry about that. We got cut off. Can you hear us now?
Yeah. I think that's it for me, guys. Thank you.
Okay, sorry, Dave. We got cut off. Sorry about that.
No problem. I'm good, thanks.
Thank you.
There are no further questions at this time. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.