Broadband growth and consumer uptake for bundled services has bolstered BSkyB’s Q1 profits, leading to a three-month stock price high.
News Corp-controlled BSkyB reported ebitda of €214 million with sales rising by 10% to €1.49 billion for the quarter. BSkyB, added 94,000 new customers for the three months to 30 September, an 8% year-on-year rise contributing to a total base 9.53 million.
The UK pay TV and broadband provider added 100,000 broadband customers in the quarter for a total of 2.3 million, with ARPU rising to €508 from €466 a year earlier.
“We have won more clients despite the tough economic environment and I’m confident that we will continue to grow,” CFO Andrew Griffth told Bloomberg TV. He also reiterated the target to reach 10 million customers in 2010.
CEO Jeremy Darroch told analysts that the company would continue to “make our content more broadly available through whatever distribution platform is available to us”.
He added that HD continued to perform very well while “more customers are saving money by choosing Sky for each of TV, broadband and telephony. ”