Telus 2005 Annual Report Download - page 39

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RATINGS
Ratings information contained in Management’s Discussion and Analysis -- Section 7.7 Credit
Ratings in TELUS’ 2005 Annual Report –Financial Review is hereby incorporated by reference.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis is available at www.sedar.com. Credit ratings are not
recommendations to purchase, hold or sell securities and do not address the market price or
suitability of a specific security for a particular investor. In addition, real or anticipated changes
in the rating assigned to a security will generally affect the market value of that security. There
can be no assurance that a rating will remain in effect for any given period of time or that a rating
will not be revised or withdrawn entirely by a rating agency in the future.
A description of the rating categories applied to TELUS as at December 31, 2005 from each
agency is below. The outlook or trend for TELUS from all agencies is stable.
Institution Rating Outlook
Fitch
“BBB” ratings indicate that there is
currently expectations of low credit risk.
The capacity for payment of financial
commitments is considered adequate but
adverse changes in circumstances and
economic conditions are more likely to
impair this capacity. This is the lowest
investment grade category.
The modifiers "+" or "-" may be appended
to ratings “AA” to “CCC” to denote relative
status within major rating categories.
An Outlook indicates the direction a rating
is likely to move over a one to two-year
period. Outlooks may be positive, stable or
negative. A positive or negative Rating
Outlook does not imply a rating change is
inevitable. Similarly, ratings for which
outlooks are 'stable' could be upgraded or
downgraded before an outlook moves to
positive or negative if circumstances
warrant such an action.
DBRS
Long-term debt rated "A" is of satisfactory
credit quality. Protection of interest and
principal is still substantial, but the degree
of strength is less than that of AA rated
entities.
While "A" is a respectable rating, entities in
this category are considered to be more
susceptible to adverse economic conditions
and have greater cyclical tendencies than
higher-rated securities.
Long-term debt rated “BBB” is of adequate
credit quality. Protection of interest and
principal is considered acceptable, but the
entity is fairly susceptible to adverse
changes in financial and economic
conditions, or there may be other adverse
conditions present which reduce the
strength of the entity and its rated securities.
The ratings from “AA” to “C” are denoted
Each DBRS rating category is appended
with one of three rating trends - "Positive",
"Stable", or "Negative". The rating trend
helps to give the investor an understanding
of DBRS's opinion regarding the outlook for
the rating in question. However, the investor
must not assume that a positive or negative
trend necessarily indicates that a rating
change is imminent.