4th Nov 2005 11:34
British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC04 November 2005 British Sky Broadcasting Group plcAGM Statement4 November 2005 BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING GROUP PLC (the "Company") Annual General Meeting At the Annual General Meeting of the Company held today at The Queen ElizabethII Conference Centre, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, London SW1P 3EE at 11.30a.m. The Chairman's statement statement follows below: "Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to the 17th Annual GeneralMeeting of British Sky Broadcasting. It is a pleasure to see so manyshareholders here today. Let me introduce your Board of Directors: working from the centre on myimmediate right I have James Murdoch, Jeremy Darroch, Allan Leighton, GailRebuck, Jacques Nasser, Lord Wilson of Dinton, Lord St John of Fawsley andAndrew Higginson. On my left I have Dave Gormley, the Company Secretary, JacobRothschild, Arthur Siskind, David DeVoe, David Evans and Chase Carey. NickFerguson unfortunately had a prior engagement for today and sends his apologies. We have a lot of business to get through this morning, but before we considerthe agenda I would like to say a few words. Sky continued to deliver on its targets, both financially and operationally inthe 2005 financial year. • Financially, the Group is in a very healthy position. Turnover for the year to June 2005 grew by 11% to exceed £4 billion for the first time and operating profit increased by 34% to £805 million, the highest level of profit by far in Sky's history. • Operationally, the Group continued to achieve its goals, notwithstanding a more challenging competitive environment and economic pressures affecting consumers. With a subscriber base of 7.8 million, Sky is well positioned to continue to grow. The Group has achieved these results while also positioning ourselves for newopportunities in a dynamic and competitive marketplace. Today more than ever,Customers want a high quality experience and Sky is continuously finding newways to give them even more choice, flexibility and control as they get it. This morning, the Group announced that there are more than one million Sky+customers. Sky+ has transformed the way these families experience television inirreversible ways. As a result, they rate the service highly and act asadvocates for it. As we pass this milestone, we are particularly grateful totens of thousands of Sky+ families who have been with us since the early monthsafter the service launched in August 2001. We are encouraged by two factors that underscore the opportunity in themarketplace. First, consumer demand for pay-TV entertainment is growing. Second,Sky is positioning itself to offer a wider range of entertainment andcommunications services. At only 44% penetration, the pay-TV sector in the UK and Ireland will providecontinued and ample growth for Sky. We believe that over time, this can grow toaround 80%, meaning another 10 million households will take pay televisionservices. In addition to being a successful player in a growing market, we also seeopportunities to offer a wider range of communications services as part ofincreasingly "whole-home" solutions for customers. We bring a powerful brand,great programming and industry-leading customer service to our current andfuture customer base. Real change is upon us, not only in the genuine ways that entertainment andcommunications services are coming together, but also in how the internet hasbrought about changes in consumers' lives. In its short history, Sky hasdemonstrated its ability to adapt to these changing needs on numerous occasions.The proposed acquisition of Easynet Group plc is an important step in ensuringthat we continue to deliver the services that our customers want in the future.It will give us the tools to reinvent our business yet again and to stay at theforefront of innovation in a competitive marketplace. We are confident that continued execution of our growth strategy will deliver onour ambitious targets for 2010: • to reach 10 million DTH subscribers • to have 25% penetration of Sky+; • to have 30% penetration of multiroom subscriptions; and • expected operating profit margins in the high 20's percent range. The benefits of the Group's success are flowing directly to shareholders. Sincethe AGM last year BSkyB has returned £678 million to shareholders via itsordinary dividend and share buy back. The ordinary dividend for the full-year represents an increase of 50% on thecomparable period and buying back shares has also benefited earnings per share -the Group estimates by around 4% for the first quarter's results announcedtoday. Two resolutions, numbers 14 and 15, are being proposed today to enable Sky tobuy-back up to another 5% of its shares. Because of the potential implicationsfor News Corp.'s shareholding in Sky, I and the other News Corp. affiliateddirectors have not participated in the recommendation of resolution 15. Whenresolutions 14 and 15 are to be considered by the meeting, I will hand over thechair to Jacob Rothschild, to put these before you. Over the past two years, the non-executive Directors of the Group have continuedto work tirelessly through the Board and its committees consulting withshareholders on many important issues and reflecting their views on the way theCompany is run. We have a distinguished Board of directors and I would like tothank all of the non-executive directors for the time they have invested and fortheir continued support. They have played vital roles in the strategic directionand improved governance of the Company. Finally, I would like to thank all our staff for their continued support. It isthrough their hard work and enthusiasm in pursuit of our long-term growthstrategy that we believe substantial value to shareholders will be delivered." This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Sky