Middlesex, UK--(Marketwire - November 2, 2007) -
BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING GROUP PLC
Interim Management Statement and Results for the three
months ended 30 September 2007
Strong demand continues
- New customer additions of 327,000 in the quarter
- Net customer growth of 83,000 to 8.665 million
- Strong growth in additional products from the previous quarter
- Record Sky+ growth of 323,000 to 2.697 million, up 14%
- HD growth of 66,000 to 358,000, up 23%
- Multiroom growth of 68,000 to 1.411 million, up 5%
- Sky Broadband growth of 223,000 to 939,000, up 31%
- Sky Talk growth of 153,000 to 679,000, up 29%
- Overall product sales of over 1.2 million, up 86% on the comparable
period
- Sky Broadband passed one million customers during October
Strong top-line growth; profits reflect investment for future growth
- Group revenue increased by 11% on the comparable period to GBP1,185
million
- Gross margin increased by three percentage points on the comparable
period to 66%
- Adjusted operating profit of GBP150 million reflects very strong Sky+
customer growth
- Reported operating profit of GBP143 million including a full first
quarter's investment of GBP51 million in Sky Broadband and Talk and GBP6
million in Easynet Enterprise and a GBP7 million exceptional charge
- Basic EPS of 4.8p (2007: 6.5p); adjusted EPS of 5.0p (2007: 6.4p)(1)
(1) Comparative period adjusted earnings per share have been revised to
take account of GBP3 million EDS litigation costs which were not
disclosed as an exceptional item in the comparable period
James Murdoch, Chief Executive said:
"We've seen continued good demand from customers for our entire product range,
with over one million product sales for the fourth consecutive quarter. Sky+
has been exceptional, growing faster than ever before - and is now enjoyed by
almost one third of Sky TV customers.
"We launched Sky Broadband in the belief that customers would respond to quality
and value, and they have. After just 14 months over one million customers have
chosen Sky Broadband, and growth continues.
"As expected, our financial performance reflected strong product sales, our
investment in high quality programming and a full quarter of investment in Sky
Broadband and Talk. We expect that performance for the full year will be in line
with our plans."
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
A conference call for U.K. and European analysts and investors will be held at
8:00 a.m. (GMT) today. To register for this, please contact Silvana Marsh at
Finsbury on +44 20 7251 3801. A live audiocast 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 Johnston at Taylor Rafferty on +1 212 889 4350. A live
audiocast of this call and replay facility will be available on Sky's corporate
website,
http://www.sky.com/corporate.
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This information is provided by RNS
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