Telus 2009 Annual Report Download - page 17

RATINGS
Ratings information contained in MD&A Section 7- Liquidity and capital resources to
Section 7.7 - Credit Ratings is hereby incorporated by reference. TELUS’ MD&A is
available at 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will not be revised or withdrawn entirely by a rating agency in the future.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, 2009 from
each agency is below. The outlook or trend for TELUS from four agencies was stable.
Institution Rating Outlook
Fitch “BBB” ratings indicate that there is
currently expectation 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
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.
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