With its revenues increasing by 10 per cent to £1.38 billion and the customer base growing by 94,000 to reach 9.536 million homes, BSkyB's profit for the first quarter has risen by 75 per cent from £73 million to £128 million.
"Our business has made a good start to our 2010 financial year with another quarter of strong results," said chief executive Jeremy Darroch. "In what continues to be a tough economic environment, we have increased the number of customers joining Sky."
BSKYB absorbed the short-term costs of customer demand and delivered double-digit revenue growth, 9 per cent growth in operating profit, and 15 per cent growth in EPS.
"As the year continues, we'll maintain a clear focus on our customers and on delivering on our priorities, all with the aim of building a larger, more profitable, and better business," said Darroch.
Darroch also pointed to the increasing popularity of Sky's additional products: multi-room subscriptions added 62,000 to reach 1.9 million; Sky+ HD PVRs gained 287,000 (last year it was 93,000) to reach 1.6 million, compensating for the slower growth of Sky+ SD PVRs, with additions of 411,000 (compared to last year's 421,000), reaching 5.9 million.
The broadband base rose to 2.3 million with 100,000 net additions, down from last year's 164,000, and the telephony customer base added 132,000, up from 120,000 to reach 1.98 million. ARPU in the period rose from £430 to £469.
(Source: Indiantelevision.com)
