Sky Deutschland delivered another quarter of strong financial and operating performance. Record revenue growth drove an increase of 19%, reaching €392.7 million (Q3 2012: €331.3 million). Subscription revenues were the key driver, increasing to €356.8 million (Q3 2012: €306.6 million), supported by higher subscriber numbers, as well as a €1.85 increase in ARPU to €34.07 (Q3 2012: €32.22). Total costs excluding depreciation were €363.5 million (Q3 2012: €312.7 million), and include the new costs related to the enhanced Bundesliga rights. EBITDA was positive at €29.2 million (Q3 2012: €18.6 million), and EBIT came in at €6.3 million (Q3 2012: €0.1 million). Net income amounted to negative €14.2 million (Q3 2012: negative €16.5 million).
On a nine-month-basis, EBITDA improved by €70.7 million year-on-year, to positive €71.8 million (9M 2012: €1.0 million). This strong financial performance was driven by a 16% increase in year-to-date revenues to €1,132.1 million (9M 2012: €976.4 million), while costs excluding depreciation including the abovementioned costs for enhanced Bundesliga rights rose by 9% to €1,060.4 million (9M 2012: €975.3 million).
The number of direct subscribers grew by 76,000 (Q3 2012: 79,900) to 3,529,000 customers (Q3 2012: 3,212,000) at the end of September. This was supported by gross additions of 185,100 (Q3 2012: 188,200), reflecting robust underlying demand levels when considering recent quality initiatives which include the ramp-down of Sky's outbound telesales channel at the beginning of this year. Customer loyalty remains strong with a 12-month rolling churn rate of 11.8% (Q3 2012: 11.8%) and an improvement in the quarterly annualized churn rate to 12.5% (Q3 2012: 13.7%).
Brian Sullivan, CEO of Sky Deutschland: "Q3 has seen another strong set of financial and operating results for Sky, as we continue delivering on our strategy of high quality differentiated content, exciting innovations and great customer service."
About Sky Deutschland:
Sky Deutschland is the leading pay TV company in Germany and Austria with over 3.5 million subscribers. Sky offers live sports, current films, award-winning TV series, kids programs, and documentaries. Sky subscribers have access to up to 71 channels in unique HD quality and an exclusive 3D channel. The innovations Sky Go and Sky Anytime enable customers to view programming on the road as well as on demand.
Contacts:
Sky Deutschland
Media:
Dr. Jörg E. Allgäuer
Vice President Corporate Communications
Tel.: +49 89/99 58-63 77
joerg.allgaeuer@sky.de
or
Investors and analysts:
Christine Scheil
Senior Vice President Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 89/99 58-10 10
christine.scheil@sky.de
