17th Oct 2013 07:18
LONDON (Alliance News) - British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC Thursday posted declines in operating profit, despite rising revenues, due to the jump up in Premier League costs as the broadcasting giant handles competition from BT Group PLC.
In the quarter ended September 30 the company posted revenues of GBP1,843 million, up 7% from GBP1,715 million in the previous year. Operating profit, however, dropped to GBP285 million from GBP310 million. Earnings per share were also down 3% at 13.00 pence from 13.4 pence.
Drops in profit reflected step-ups in Premier League costs, the company said, as well as its investments to accelerate the take up of connected services. Under the new three-year Premier League deal the company pays GBP760 million in licensing fees, an increase of GBP220 million from the previous year. Sky Sports subscribers grew in the quarter, and viewing was up by 15%, which the company said reflected the strength of its summer schedule.
Revenues from former 02 broadband customers following the consolidation of O2's consumer broadband and fixed line business broadly offset the loss of ESPN revenue, BSkyB said.
ESPN became part of BT's competing BT Sports package at the end of July.
The company said that it had added 110,000 net new broadband customers in the quarter, 800,000 new paid-for subscription products and 219,000 net additions to its Sky Go Extra mobile TV service. BSkyB closed the quarter with 11.2 million retail customers.
On demand services performed well in the quarter, with downloads increasing fourfold and movie rentals doubling to 2.1 million.
"We are making excellent progress against the plan we set out in July to accelerate growth and returns from new services," said Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch in a statement. "While the consumer environment remains challenging, we are well placed as we execute a strong set of plans for the rest of the year."
Shares In BSkyB were trading up 2.5% at 899.50 pence Thursday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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