3 November 2006
BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING GROUP PLC
Results for the three months ended 30 September 2006
BSkyB announces strong first quarter net subscriber growth and
substantial demand for Sky Broadband
Further strong growth in Television
* DTH subscribers increased to 8.258 million, net growth of
82,000 in the quarter
* Sky+ households increased by 139,000 in the quarter to
1,692,000, 20% penetration of total DTH subscribers
* Multiroom households increased by 46,000 in the quarter
to 1,093,000, 13% penetration of total DTH subscribers
* HD households increased to 96,000, net growth of 58,000
in the quarter
Strong progress since the launch of Residential Broadband and Telephony
(1)
* Substantial demand from Sky customers with around one million
registrations
* Successful use of pre-registration to proactively manage demand
* 74,000 customers connected, with over 20,000 orders every week
* 540 local exchanges unbundled - 36% of UK homes passed, with 25
exchanges now being unbundled every week
* 49,000 customers signed up to Sky Talk's GBP5 per month anytime calls
package taking the total Sky Talk customer base to 204,000
Continued strong financial performance
* Revenue increased by 11% to GBP1,071 million
* EBITDA, excluding Easynet and the impact of Residential Broadband
(GBP34 million), increased by 8% to GBP258 million
* Operating profit including Easynet and the impact of Residential
Broadband of GBP180 million, an operating margin of 17%
* Operating profit, excluding Easynet and the impact of Residential
Broadband (GBP42 million), increased by 3% to GBP222 million, a
margin of 22%
* Basic earnings per share of 6.5 pence; adjusted earnings per share
of 6.3 pence
James Murdoch, Chief Executive said:
"This has been an important period for the company. We are building
on our leadership in pay television and are becoming an increasingly
well positioned challenger in the GBP20 billion combined industry for
pay television, broadband and telephone services. Sky has delivered
the highest first quarter subscriber growth for three years and is
seeing high demand across our range of services. One in three families
in the UK and Republic of Ireland are choosing Sky for the widest
choice in television and now almost a quarter of those families take
at least one additional product from us as well. While it is still
early, we are pleased with the progress since the launch of Sky
Broadband and in just 15 weeks, we've seen a great response from
Sky customers. Our preparations, pace of provisioning and investments
in service and systems to manage demand are performing well.
Our strategy is leading to an increase in revenue growth with overall
revenues up 11% in the quarter. Our expansion into new areas is
supported by continued growth and strong financial performance with
pay television EBITDA up 8% in the quarter.
A wide choice of quality programmes, innovative services like HDTV,
Sky+, and broadband are not only attracting new customers, but also
offering new services to existing customers. There's never been a
better time to join in."
Enquiries:
Analysts/Investors:
Andrew Griffith Tel: 020 7705 3118
Robert Kingston Tel: 020 7705 3726
E-mail: investor-relations@bskyb.com
Press:
Matthew Anderson Tel: 020 7705 3267
Robert Fraser Tel: 020 7705 3036
E-mail: corporate.communications@bskyb.com
Finsbury:
Alice Macandrew Tel: 020 7251 3801
A conference call for UK and European analysts and investors will be
held at 8:30 a.m. (GMT) today. To register for this, please contact
Silvana Marsh at Finsbury on +44 20 7251 3801. A live webcast of
this call and replay facility will be available on Sky's corporate
website, http://www.sky.com/corporate.
There will be a separate conference call for US analysts and investors at
10.00 a.m. (EST) today. Details of this call have been sent to US
institutions and can be obtained from Dana Johnson at Taylor Rafferty on
+1 212 889 4350. A live webcast of this call and replay facility will
also be available on Sky's corporate website,
http://www.sky.com/corporate.
(1) Residential Broadband and Telephony data as at 31 October 2006
To view the full document, please click on the link below
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/4989l_-2006-11-2.pdf
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC announces 1st Quarter Results
| Source: British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC
Middlesex, UK -- (MARKET WIRE) -- November 3, 2006 --