BSkyB’s total revenues grew to £1,071 million, an 11% increase compared to the three months ended 30 September 2005.
Total operating costs increased by £140 million to £891 million, generating operating profit of £180 million.
Sky says that this result is after the inclusion of operating losses from the consolidation of the Easynet and Residential Broadband of £7 million and £35 million respectively. Excluding these items, Sky’s operating profit was £222 million.
Direct to home (DTH) satellite revenues increased to £792 million, which Sky says was principally driven by 5% growth in the average number of DTH subscribers.
However, the group said that wholesale revenues continued to disappoint, decreasing by 2% on the comparable period to £5 3 million.
Advertising revenues for the quarter were 4% lower than the comparable period at £78 million, reflecting the challenging conditions in the general television advertising sector.
Advertising declined by 8% during the quarter and is forecast to fall by 7% during the entirety of calendar year 2006. However, Sky’s overall share of this sector increased, and the group expects to continue to outperform the UK television advertising sector for the remainder of this calendar year.
SkyBet net revenues increased by 43% on the comparable period to £10 million, which Sky says is a consequence of strong growth in sports betting and interactive gaming. Sky Active revenues of £22 million for the quarter were in line with the comparable period.
Total operating profit was £35 million lower than the comparable period at £180 million; underlying operating profit for the quarter increased by £7 million on the comparable period to £222 million. Group operating profit margin for the quarter was 17%, although this rose to 22% on an underlying basis, in line with the comparable period.
The Group’s profit after tax for the quarter decreased by £24 million to £116 million, leading to a reduction in adjusted earnings per share to 6.3 pence from 7.6 pence in the comparable quarter.
BSkyB also announced that 74,000 customers have been connected to its broadband service since it was launched in July, and that around 1 million of its 8.3 million subscribers have registered interest in the offering.
It added that that over 20% of all Sky households now have Sky+, with 1,692,000 subscribing to the service as of September 30, up by 139,000 since the end of June.
