Sky ups profit, adds subs

Sky has reported strong full year results, with revenue climbing by 7% and adjusted operating profit increasing by 12%.

Its subs base across the UK, Germany and Italy was 21.8 million, an 808,000 uptick year-on-year.

Most of the subs growth – 445,000 – at the European satcaster came from the UK.

Announcing its results for the twelve months ended June 30, 2016, Sky said that revenue for the full year came to £11.97 billion (US$15.75 billion), while adjusted operating profit was £1.56 billion.

Earnings per-share, adjusted on a like-per-like basis to exclude the £791 million profit Sky made on the sale of its shareholdings in ITV and National Geographic, were also up 13% year-on-year to 63.1p.

Commenting on the results, Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch said that the company had broadened its business and expanded into new consumer segments, applying its strategy across the group.

“The group is leveraging the many opportunities of scale; sharing resources, insights, expertise and innovation,” he said. “We are investing in a broad range of world-class entertainment in every market, distributed across an unrivalled choice of market-leading platforms and supported by excellent service, because these are the things that really matter to customers.”

In the UK and Ireland, Sky passed £8 billion in revenue for the first time, which Sky attributed to “giving consumers more and more reasons to choose Sky” – including the launch of its new Sky Q offering.

However, churn in the UK and Ireland was 11.2% for the year, up from 9.8% a year earlier. Sky attributed this to a limit on retention discounts and the communication of a 4-5% TV price rise, which took effect from last month.

In Germany and Austria, Sky said it had broadened its TV offering to attract more customers and announced the launch of its Sky 1channel in this market.

In Italy, Darroch said that Sky is “outperforming a competitive market”, with the Italian customer base returning to growth for the first time in five years.