Sky Reports Profit, Revenue Gains

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Sky’s revenues for the nine months ended March 31, 2018, rose by 5 percent to £10.1 billion ($14.3 billion), with operating profit up 22 percent to £857 million ($1.2 billion).

The company reported £8.85 billion ($12.6 billion) in direct-to-consumer revenues, £617 million ($878 million) in content revenues (a 17-percent gain) and ad revenues of £676 million ($962 million), which were up 9 percent.

The platform operator said it added 480,000 new customers in the last year to reach 22.9 million. “It’s been a good quarter for Sky,” said Jeremy Darroch, group chief executive. “We’ve delivered excellent financial results, with like-for-like revenues up 5 percent and Established EBITDA up 14 percent. Against the backdrop of a challenging consumer environment, this performance reflects the continual improvement in our broad set of products and services and our focus on providing great value every single day—something recognized by customers now taking over 62 million subscription products from us and our services reaching over 120 million people across Europe.”

Darroch continued, “Today’s results not only demonstrate continued strong execution but also extend our position as Europe’s leading direct-to-consumer media business.

“Looking ahead, we have the right strategy and abilities in place to provide customers with the best content, products and service. Whilst we expect the consumer environment to remain challenging, the business is in good shape and we remain on track for the full year.”

Revenues for the U.K. and Ireland rose 4 percent to £6.7 billion ($9.5 billion), with the company reporting 13 million customers (adding 70,000 in Q3, 75 percent higher than the previous year). The revenues from operations in Germany and Austria were up 6 percent to £1.5 billion ($2.1 billion). The subscriber base in Germany and Austria is 5.2 million, an increase of 231,000 on the previous year. Revenues from Italy were up 5 percent to £1.95 billion ($2.8 billion). The number of subs fell slightly in Q3 to reach 4.8 million.