Sky Q1 Revenues Up 7 Percent

LONDON: First-quarter revenues at Sky rose 7 percent to £3.1 billion ($3.8 billion), with gains reported across all of its markets.

“I’m pleased with the start we have made to the year, with like-for-like revenue growth of over 5 percent and more than 100,000 new customers joining Sky,” said Jeremy Darroch, the group’s chief executive. “We finished the quarter strongly after a slower start against the backdrop of the Rio Olympics and UEFA Euro 2016. It was also a strong quarter of innovation with the launch of our new streaming service, Sky Ticket, in Germany; Ultra HD in the U.K., Ireland, Germany and Austria; and our enhanced mobile TV proposition, Sky Go Extra, in Italy, as we transform all our markets to multiplatform distribution services.”

Darroch continued, “We are on track financially in a year of investment on screen. We are bringing customers the very best TV with more of the biggest Premier League matches, Europe’s best box set service and more new and exclusive original drama. We are already seeing the benefit with good growth in revenues, more new customers joining us and existing customers consuming more. Alongside this, we are making very strong progress on efficiency with operating costs for the quarter lower than a year ago in absolute terms.”

Revenues were up 9 percent in Germany and Austria to £434 million ($529 million), the U.K. was up 5 percent to £2.1 billion ($2.6 billion) and Italy 13 percent to £610 million ($744 million). “Overall, financially we had a strong quarter and we’re on track for our full year expectations,” Darroch noted.

In the U.K. and Ireland operations, the company did report a softer TV ad market, with revenues down 3 percent. In Germany and Austria, meanwhile, ad revenues grew by 25 percent and in Italy they were up 17 percent.