Sky Delivers 22-Percent Profit Gain

LONDON, October 31: BSkyB announced today that its first-quarter revenues were up 5 percent to £1.2 billion, with a 22-percent rise in after-tax profit to £106 million and a net customer growth of 87,000 to 9.07 million subscribers.

Other highlights of the platform’s quarterly results included an increase in ARPU to £430, and a 22-percent rise in adjusting earnings per share to 6.1 pence.

On the subscription front, meanwhile, the platform now has 4.1 million Sky+ homes, with net additions of 421,000. There was also record Sky+ HD growth of 93,000 to 591,000 customers. Multiroom households gained by 51,000 to 1.65 million. Sky Broadband was up by 164,000 to 1.79 million, marking a 20-percent penetration of Sky subscribers. And the Sky Talk telephony service added 120,000 subs to reach 1.36 million, a 15-percent penetration.

Jeremy Darroch, BSkyB’s chief executive, noted: "This is a good set of results in a challenging environment. We’ve continued to perform well by focusing on quality, value and service. Over 9 million customers now enjoy the best in entertainment through Sky and, in tougher times, we’re helping more people to save money on broadband and telephony as well. Our financial performance is strong, with a 21-percent increase in operating profit. Looking ahead, the consumer environment will remain challenging and we are well positioned to manage the business accordingly. Our products are better than ever, we are strong financially and we have a great team of people."

—By Mansha Daswani