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News Corp Sky

BSkyB revenue soars by 16% as subscription numbers continue to increase

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

July 29, 2011 | 4 min read

BSkyB has revealed a total revenue growth of 16% to £6,597 billion over the last financial year.

The satellite broadcaster saw a growth of 40,000 TV customers and 31,000 home communications customers in the last quarter and 426,000 in the last year – a total of 784,000 (17%) of new customers taking up various packages since July 2010.

SkyHD customers also grew by 30% with 3.8m customers taking up the service.

This saw a 23% growth in operating profits of £1,073 billion, with £750m being shared back amongst shareholders, including News Corporation.

James Murdoch, chairman of BSkyB, commented:"This has been a year of outstanding operational and financial results for Sky. It is to the credit of Sky's first-class management team that the company has continued to deliver throughout the offer period that ended earlier this month. On behalf of the whole Board, I am grateful to Nick Ferguson for his contribution as Deputy Chairman during the last year and I am pleased that he has agreed to continue in that role. We are pleased to announce both a 20% increase in the ordinary dividend and our intention to return £750 million to shareholders through a share buy-back programme."

Jeremy Darroch, chief executive, commented:"Sky has had an excellent year of delivery for both customers and shareholders. We have stayed focused on executing our plan and customers have responded by rewarding us with more of their business. Today's announcement of a capital returns programme is a reflection of our strong performance and financial position, which flow directly from delivering for customers in the marketplace. With that in mind, we will stay focused on getting better on screen, innovating faster and delivering great value.

"In the fourth quarter, the business has delivered another strong operational and financial performance despite the challenging economic backdrop. Across the year as a whole, our growth has been broadly based, with double-digit increases in retail and business-to-business revenue and almost four million product sales across television and home communications. Combined with our focus on operational efficiency, this performance has led to excellent financial results, including 23% growth in operating profit, record earnings of 41.6p per share and 51% growth in free cash flow.

"While Sky is not immune to tougher economic conditions, we have continued to see good demand across our product portfolio as customers respond to the great quality and value that we offer. The performance in home communications was particularly strong as we continue to grow all product lines. Over the year, we increased the number of customers taking all three of TV, broadband and telephony by 37% and extended our potential reach by selling home communications products independently from television for the first time. We now have over 100,000 customers taking standalone broadband and telephony products and we see plenty of scope for continued growth.

"A key factor in our performance is the bringing together of content and innovation to create an experience that customers are willing to pay for. In an outstanding year on-screen, we have launched Sky Atlantic HD and Sky Living HD, while extending our leadership in high definition and 3D. Alongside great content, we are offering customers a better viewing experience with our full video on demand service, Sky Anytime+. Also, following the launch of Sky Go this month, all customers can now watch live TV on the move as part of their subscription.

"With a consistent strategy and a clear set of priorities, we are well positioned for the opportunities ahead as we enter the new financial year. While we expect the environment to remain challenging, we will continue to pursue a balanced approach to growth and returns, based on sensible investment in areas of long-term advantage and a strong focus on operational efficiency."

News Corp Sky

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