MIDDLESEX, UK--(Marketwire - Jan 31, 2013) -
BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING GROUP PLC
Unaudited results for the six months ended 31 December 2012
GOOD PROGRESS ON STRATEGY DELIVERING STRONG FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
Adjusted results (GBP) Reported results (GBP)
Half year 2012/13 2011/12 Variance 2012/13 2011/12 Variance
Revenue 3,533m 3,364m +5% 3,533m 3,364m +5%
EBITDA 813m 772m +5% 845m 803m +5%
Operating profit 647m 601m +8% 679m 632m +7%
Earnings per share 28.3p 24.0p +18% 29.7p 25.3p +17%
(basic)
Dividend per share 11.00p 9.20p +20% 11.00p 9.20p +20%
Further strong financial performance and increased returns to
shareholders
* Revenue up 5% to GBP3,533m
* Adjusted operating profit up 8% to GBP647m
* Adjusted basic earnings per share up 18% to 28.3 pence
* Interim dividend up 20% to 11.0 pence
Multi-product strategy delivering good operational growth
* Subscription product growth of 615,000 in Q2
* Total subscription product base of 29.5 million, up 10% year on
year
* Triple-play penetration of 33%, up 4pp year on year
* 88,000 new customers added in Q2 to reach 10.74 million, up
271,000 year on year
* ARPU of GBP568, up GBP24 year on year
Customers responding positively to our content and products
* New services driving increased viewing - weekly On Demand
downloads up 150% in Q2; Sky Go users increased 46% year on year to
reach 3.1 million
* Standout performance from Sky Sports - record audiences for Ryder
Cup and US Open tennis, and over 9 million viewers to first season of
Sky Sports F1 channel
Continued excellent progress in cost initiatives and efficiency
improvements
* Adjusted other operating costs as percentage of sales reduced by
200 basis points
Results highlights
Customer Metrics (unaudited)
As at As at Annual Quarterly Growth
31-Dec-12 31-Dec-11 Growth to 31-Dec-12
Products ('000s)
TV (DTH and NOW TV) 10,358 10,253 +105 +50
HD 4,561 4,063 +498 +93
Multiroom 2,467 2,350 +117 +44
Broadband 4,235 3,651 +584 +132
Telephony 4,022 3,407 +615 +134
Line rental 3,870 3,106 +764 +162
Paid-for subscription 29,513 26,830 +2,683 +615
products
Connected Sky+HD boxes 1,715 442 +1,273 +460
Sky Go unique users 3,066 2,107 +959 +298
Total Customers 10,742 10,471 +271 +88
Paid-for products per
customer 2.7 2.6Other metrics
Customers taking each of
TV, broadband & talk 33% 29%
ARPU (2) GBP568 GBP544 +GBP24 +18
Churn (2) 10.3% 9.6%
An additional KPI summary table containing further detailed disclosure
can be found in Schedule 1.
Business Performance (1)(unaudited)
GBP'millions 6 months to 6 months to
31-Dec-11 31-Dec-12 Movement
Revenue 3,533 3,364 +5%
Adjusted operating profit 647 601 +8%
% Adjusted operating profit margin 18.3% 17.9% +40bps
Adjusted profit before tax 610 564 +8%
Adjusted basic earnings per 28.3 24.0 +18%
share (3)
(1) A reconciliation of adjusted operating profit and adjusted EBITDA to
reported measures as well as cash generated from operations to adjusted
free cash flow is set out in Appendix 2.
(2) Quarterly annualised.
(3) Adjusted basic EPS is calculated from adjusted profit for the
period. A reconciliation of reported profit to adjusted profit is set
out in note 4 to the condensed consolidated interim financial
statements.
Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive, commented:"We have delivered another good
performance in the first half with
strong progress across the board. In what remains a tough consumer
environment, our broadly-based growth strategy is working well. Good
product growth in the quarter means that our total base of subscription
products has grown by 10% year on year."During the half, we have invested
in providing the best service to our
customers while continuing to drive greater operational efficiency. We
strengthened our content offering, extended our leadership in customer
technology and continued to lead the industry in customer service."As a
result, more households are joining Sky, our existing customers
are staying loyal and they are choosing to spend more with us. In
particular, we have seen a strong response to new services like On
Demand and Sky Go which increase customer satisfaction and loyalty and
will provide important sources of future growth."Together with our
continued focus on cost control and efficiencies,
this has delivered another excellent financial performance and
increased returns to shareholders. We grew earnings per share by 18% in
the first half and have increased the interim dividend by a further 20%
to 11 pence."Although we expect the consumer environment in 2013 to remain
challenging, we have a strong set of plans for the year ahead. We will
keep getting better on screen, further improve our products and
services for customers and maintain our focus on efficiency. The
business is in good shape to continue to deliver for customers and
shareholders."
SUMMARY OF OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
The business performed well in the first half as we invested in
providing the best possible service to customers while further
improving the efficiency of our operations. We continued to get better
on screen with new rights deals and original commissions; we maintained
our leadership in customer technology with rapid adoption of new
products that enhance the viewing experience and make it easier for
customers to access our content when and where they choose; and we
continued to improve the quality and efficiency of our customer service
operations.
This approach delivered a good operating performance and strong
financial results. In a tough economic environment, more customers are
taking more products and spending more money with Sky. In the three
months to 31 December 2012, we added 615,000 new products, taking the
total base to 29.5 million, up 10% year-on-year. Meanwhile, we added
88,000 new customers to reach a total of 10.7 million.
In TV, we added 50,000 new customers in the quarter. Of these, 25,000
are subscribers to our new internet TV service NOW TV, which benefited
from our first above-the-line marketing campaign in the autumn. We are
set to launch sport on NOW TV later this year following beta testing
which started in December.
Customers now take an average of 2.7 products from us. This increased
penetration of products, combined with a price rise in September, our
first for two years, grew ARPU to GBP568, a GBP24 increase on the previo
us year. Quarterly annualised churn was 10.3%.
We delivered another strong quarter in home communications as we
continue to outpace the rest of the market. Over the quarter, we added
132,000 new broadband customers, of which 38,000 were new standalone
customers, to take our total customer base to 4.2 million. Meanwhile,
our telephony customer base passed the four-million mark for the first
time with the addition of 134,000 customers. As a result, we closed the
quarter with 3.6 million triple-play customers, up 17% on last year.
With 33% triple-play penetration, we see good headroom for futher
growth with over six million TV customers yet to switch their
communications services to Sky.
Our operating performance converted into a good financial performance
for the first half. The combination of 5% revenue growth and good cost
control delivered an 8% improvement in adjusted operating profit of
GBP647 million, and expanded the adjusted operating margin to 18.3%.
Adjusted basic earnings per share grew by 18% to 28.3 pence. On the
back of the strong financial performance, the Directors have declared
an interim dividend of 11.00 pence per share, an increase of 20% year
on year.
Getting better on screen
We made good progress on screen in the quarter as we continue to
strengthen our content business. We continue to see new record audience
figures across our channel portfolio, we are bringing outstanding new
talent to Sky with new commissions, and we are seeing ever-increasing
levels of customer satisfaction.
Within this, Sky Sports delivered a standout performance. Viewing was
up 9% in the quarter, building on a year that has seen record audiences
in key events including the Ryder Cup and US Open tennis. In its debut
season, the Sky Sports F1 channel reached more than nine million
viewers while Sky Sports on Sky Go, our mobile TV service, continues to
grow in popularity, registering a record 234,000 unique users for live
coverage of the Manchester derby in December.
We have made good progress in securing our portfolio of sports rights.
We have signed 21 deals in the last 12 months meaning that 90% of our
sports rights are now secured for the next three years. Today we have
announced three brand new deals for live rugby union which will give
viewers live coverage of Ireland's Guinness Series together with France
and Italy's Autumn Internationals. We also have an outstanding series
of events coming up on Sky Sports this year including the Ashes home
and away, the Lions' tour to Australia and the Masters from Augusta - a
fantastic line-up for customers.
Meanwhile, our Sky Movies experience continues to get better. Our Sky
Movies 007 channel, which launched in October and ran initially for one
month, was a huge success attracting more than 5 million viewers. With
an increasing number of our movies customers now with connected set-top
boxes, we are also seeing a strong response to the choice we offer
through our On Demand service. Total movie downloads across all
platforms doubled year on year to over 30 million in Q2 boosted by Sky
Movies 007. We further strengthened our movies offering with the
announcement today of a new multi-year agreement with Sony. This
follows two other major renewals, with Warner Bros and NBCUniversal, in
the first half.
Our portfolio of entertainment channels is resonating strongly, with
Sky Living, Sky Atlantic and Sky 1 all in the top five 'must have' pay
channels for customers. The success of our strategy to grow investment
in original British content has delivered a 70% increase in hours of
original-commissioned programming in the first half compared to last
year. We also saw 13 returning series in the half including'Strikeback' and
'Spy'. We are putting a growing focus on original
drama with some outstanding talent set to appear on Sky channels over
the coming year including Dominic Cooper, Vanessa Redgrave and Idris
Elba. As well as bringing customers a better choice of television, we
will seek to monetise this growing content pipeline through our
international programme sales and production company, which we acquired
in the summer and rebranded as Sky Vision in October.
Extending leadership in customer technology
We strengthened our leadership in customer technology over the quarter
with growing take-up and usage of On Demand and Sky Go, services that
add value for customers by offering more choice and flexibility in the
way they can access Sky's content.
The proportion of Sky households with fully-connected HD set-top boxes
continues to grow. Just under half a million boxes (460,000) were
activated in the quarter, taking the total number of connected boxes to
1.7 million. We expect to maintain good growth in this area in 2013.
The growth in the number of connected boxes, combined with the launch
of Catch Up TV and the addition of BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and Demand
Five, drove a marked increase in the usage of our On Demand service.
Average weekly downloads more than doubled in the quarter from 1.8
million to 4.4 million by the end of December - more than four times
the number of downloads 12 months earlier - with Sky content accounting
for more than 50% of the downloads. The growth in connected boxes also
led to an increase in the number of transactions through Sky Store,
with total movie transactions surpassing 3 million in the quarter, up
25% year on year.
We continue to expand the availability of Sky Go, extending it to an
additional 17 Android devices including the best-selling Samsung Galaxy
S3 and the HTC One. This roll-out to new devices, combined with the
addition of more live and on demand entertainment content, helped the
service to reach 3.1 million unique users in the quarter, up 46% year
on year. Stand-out successes in the quarter included 'An Idiot Abroad'
Season 3 which attracted more than 850,000 on-demand views across the
series. We will start to monetise this success in 2013 with the launch
of Sky Go Extra, which, for an additional GBP5 a month, offers customers
the added flexibility of registering up to four devices per account
(two more than currently) and downloading content to watch offline.
We are also developing new ways to distribute our content to customers
with NOW TV, our new internet TV service. We continued to build
awareness of the service, which currently provides access to Sky
Movies, with the launch of a new marketing campaign in the quarter,
registering 25,000 monthly pass customers at the end of December. We
plan to develop NOW TV further with the launch of Sky Sports later this
year, following a beta test of the service which started in December.
Under the new offer, customers will get unlimited access for a 24-hour
period to the full range of sports that we offer over all six Sky
Sports channels for just GBP9.99.
Improving service delivery and operational efficiency
Greater operational efficiency across the organisation continues to
deliver the dual benefits of improved customer service and cost savings
for the business. The improvements are driving greater customer
satisfaction and at the same time give us increased capacity to invest
more in the areas where customers see most value.
Market-leading customer service remained a key area of focus in the
quarter. Over 70% of our customers now have our most reliable Sky+HD
box, driving down annualised service rates by almost 90% versus four
years ago. This has contributed to the lowest level of service visits
in eight years, despite a 41% increase in the number of customers over
that period. Improvements in service reliability have also led to a 15%
reduction year on year in total calls to our contact centres.
Meanwhile, improvements in our customer website have helped drive a 50%
year-on-year increase in automated transactions. We expect to see
further reductions in customer interactions following the introduction
of our new 'Sky Hub' router in October, which provides additional
capabilities to diagnose and fix faults remotely.
As part of our drive to improve further the efficiency and
effectiveness of our home service operation, we have agreed a deal to
bring around 700 engineers that work for our outsource partner, AVC,
in-house as Sky employees later in 2013. This will give us one
integrated nationwide team of engineers all working under a single set
of processes. We have also this month opened a new contact centre in
Ireland where we are creating 900 new jobs to help us better serve our
Irish customers.
Our initiatives on service delivery helped Sky to come top in Ofcom's
Customer Service Satisfaction survey in December 2012 across all three
of fixed telephony, broadband and pay TV. We also received recognition
of our leading service from the consumer group, uSwitch, winning four
awards for best technical support, best customer service, most
recommended broadband and best pay TV provider.
Broader Contribution
In December, we announced that Olympic gold medalist Jessica Ennis has
become one of our inspirational ambassadors for Sky Sports Living for
Sport, our free initiative to help improve confidence and attitudes to
learning among secondary school children through sports participation.
The project is reaching more young people than ever with over 1,000
schools taking part since September, a four-fold increase over the same
time last year.
Sky Skills Studios, our free learning experience for young people to go
behind the scenes at Sky, has received over 3,500 visitors since launch
in September. It is getting great feedback from teachers and children
alike, and we expect to reach over 10,000 young people across the year.
We also continue to invest in the Arts, both on air and in the
community. The first of our Sky Arts Ignition Series where we
collaborate with major arts organisations and artists to create new
works, Sky Arts Ignition: Doug Aitken - The Source, continued at Tate
Liverpool attracting over 50,000 visitors by the time it closed in mid
January.We have just announced the second of our Sky Arts Ignition
Series projects, the development of an exhibition called Sky Arts
Ignition: Memory Palace in partnership with the V&A which will open to
the public in June.
DETAILED FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
We continue to deliver a strong financial performance. First half
revenue growth of 5% and good discipline in keeping adjusted other
operating costs flat helped to deliver adjusted operating profit growth
of 8% to GBP647 million, and adjusted basic earnings per share of 28.3p,
up 18%. Unless otherwise stated, all figures and growth rates included
below exclude exceptional items. Exceptional items are discussed on
page 9 and in Appendix 2.
Revenue
Group revenue increased by 5% to GBP3,533 million (2012: GBP3,364 millio
n), with growth in both retail and wholesale operations more than
offsetting reductions in the more cyclical businesses in advertising
and pubs and clubs.
Retail subscription revenue grew by 5% to GBP2,907 million (2012: GBP2,7
64 million), reflecting continued product and customer growth and the
benefit of price increases which came into effect in September. The
strong performance in retail more than offsets a first half decline in
Sky Business revenues (pubs and clubs) which continue to face cyclical
headwinds; although recent performance has shown signs of recovery.
We delivered a strong performance in wholesale subscription revenue
which increased by 14% to GBP194 million (2012: GBP170 million) as we
continue to benefit from greater take-up of our premium channels and
their HD versions on other platforms, together with the launch and
success of our dedicated Formula 1 channel.
Advertising revenue improved on the previous quarter to be down just 3%
for the period at GBP215 million (2012: GBP222 million). We continued to
increase our market share to reach 21%, with the majority of this
growth underpinned by increased ratings for our media partner channels,
with whom we share revenue upside.
Installation, hardware and service revenue of GBP47 million was lower
year-on-year (2012: GBP51 million) due to lower acquisition volumes and
our work on product reliability and right-first-time installation
rates.
Other revenue increased by 8% to GBP170 million (2012: GBP157 million) d
ue to continued strong performance from Sky Bet which saw an increase in
unique users in the period, and the international programme sales
revenue generated by Sky Vision.
Direct Costs
Programming costs increased by GBP113 million (10%) to GBP1,222 million
(2012: GBP1,109 million) in line with our expectations. Sports accounted
for GBP48 million of the increase which was predominantly due to the
inclusion of Formula 1 and Ryder Cup rights not in the prior year
together with the England and Sri Lankan cricket tours to India and
Australia respectively. Movie costs increased GBP23 million year-on-year
and included investment in expanded rights agreements to support new
product offerings such as Sky Go Extra. Entertainment accounted for GBP3
0 million of the increase as we continued to invest in new and exclusive
UK-commissioned content across our channel portfolio.
Our work on network efficiency within our communications business
resulted in excellent operating leverage in direct network costs, up
only 4% to GBP348 million (2012: GBP336 million) despite a 19% increase
in home communications products.
Other Operating Costs
We continued to focus on costs and once again delivered a strong
performance, holding other operating costs flat in absolute terms
year-on-year and generating a 200 basis point reduction of costs as a
percentage of sales.
Marketing costs were flat at GBP541 million (2012: GBP541 million) with
lower cost route-to-market sales and lower acquisition volumes
offsetting the cost of Sky+ and On Demand campaigns in the period and
the marketing support for the launch of NOW TV.
Subscriber management and supply chain costs were also held flat at
GBP323 million (2012: GBP323 million) as we continue to benefit from
lower service and repair costs as a result of deeper penetration of our
most reliable Sky+HD box. We also generated savings from receiving fewer
calls into the call centres as we focus on getting it right first time
together with increased utilisation of the online self-help options.
Transmission, technology and fixed network costs were down 1% at GBP193
million (2012: GBP194 million) as favourable renegotiation of supplier
contracts offset the modest incremental cost of the Formula 1 channel
transmission. Administration costs were held flat at GBP259 million
(2012: GBP260 million).
Exceptional Items
Reported operating profit of GBP679 million includes an exceptional gain
of GBP32 million within direct network costs relating to a credit note
received from BT following an Ofcom determination which requires BT to
repay monies to Sky for overcharged-for Ethernet services (backhaul)
between 2006/07 and 2009/10. Ofcom's determination may be appealed in
the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Subject to the outcome of any such
appeal, we intend to ensure that our customers benefit from this
decision by spending the majority of this on a one-time basis in
customer-facing areas of the business in the second half of the year.
Reported profit after tax of GBP487 million (2012: GBP441 million)
includes an GBP8 million charge relating to the tax effect on
exceptional items andgenerated reported basic earnings per share of
29.7 pence (2012: 25.3 pence). Please refer to Appendix 2 for a
detailed reconciliation of reported and adjusted numbers.
Cash generated from operations
Adjusted free cash flow was 3% lower at GBP482 million (2012: GBP495
million) reflecting growth in adjusted EBITDA, lower interest and tax
payments and lower capital expenditure, offset by a negative working
capital variance as a result of increased commissioning of
entertainment content and scheduling of payments for renewed sports
rights deals.
Capital expenditure of GBP207 million (2012: GBP237 million), was lower
in the first half due to phasing in the comparative year; specifically,
the autumn 2011 completion of the fit-out of Sky Studios and the
acceleration of our exchange roll-out programme.
Net debt increased to GBP1,201 million (2012: GBP615 million) primarily
as a result of the approved share buy-back and 2011/12 final dividend.
During the period, the Group took advantage of historically low pricing
to raise $800 million from the issuance of guaranteed notes, maturing
in November 2022 and with a 3.125% coupon. The Group's liquidity and
headroom remain comfortable. For a reconciliation of net debt see
Appendix 2.
Distribution to Shareholders
The Directors have declared an interim dividend of 11.00 pence per
share (2012: 9.20p) representing an increase of 20% and the ninth
consecutive year of an increase in the interim dividend for
shareholders. As previously stated, our intention is to maintain a
policy of paying out 50% of full year adjusted earnings as dividends
with the final dividend payment typically forming the higher proportion
of the total dividend. The ex-dividend date will be 27 March 2013 and
the dividend will be paid on 23 April 2013 to shareholders of record on
2 April 2013.
At the Company's AGM on 1 November 2012, Sky received shareholder
approval to return a further GBP500 million of capital to shareholders
via a share buy-back programme. For the six months to 31 December 2012,
the Company repurchased for cancellation 54.8 million shares for total
consideration of GBP414 million, partly pursuant to the GBP750 million
authority approved at the 2011 AGM and partly under the new GBP500
million share buy-back programme. The closing share count at the end
of the quarter was 1,620 million.
CORPORATE
Board changes
The Company announces that Tom Mockridge resigned as a non-executive
director and Chase Carey has been appointed a non-executive director of
the Company on 30 January 2013. Mr Carey is currently the Deputy
Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation and serves on
the supervisory board of Sky Deutschland AG. He was formerly President
and Chief Executive Officer of DIRECTV, Inc and served on the Board of
BSkyB as a non-executive director of Sky from 13 February 2003 to 10
February 2009.
Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT)
On 8 August 2012, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (the "CAT") issued
its judgment in the appeals against Ofcom's decision to impose
wholesale must-offer obligations on Sky (the "Pay TV Judgment"). The
CAT found that Ofcom's core competition concerns were unfounded and
that accordingly Sky's appeal must be allowed. In November 2012, BT
submitted a request to the CAT for permission to appeal the Pay TV
Judgment to the Court of Appeal. If denied by the CAT, BT can apply to
the Court of Appeal directly for permission. The CAT has listed an oral
hearing for 6 February 2013 to determine how to dispose of the case,
including dealing with setting aside the wholesale must-offer ("WMO")
obligations, the monies paid by relevant wholesale customers into
escrow on an interim basis (being the difference between the maximum
price Sky may charge for Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 under the WMO
obligations and Sky's rate card prices for the channels) and costs.
The CAT will also determine the effect (if any) of any ongoing appeal
by BT.
At 31 December 2012, GBP27 million of cash is being held in the escrow
account.
Enquiries:
Analysts/Investors:
Edward Steel Tel: 020 7032 2093
Lang Messer Tel: 020 7032 2657
E-mail: investor-relations@bskyb.com
Press:
Alice Macandrew Tel: 020 7705 3000
Stephen Gaynor Tel: 020 7705 3000
E-mail: corporate.communications@bskyb.com
There will be a presentation for analysts and investors at 9.00 a.m
(GMT) at Allen & Overy, One Bishops Square, London, E1 6AD. CEO, Jeremy
Darroch and CFO, Andrew Griffith, will present. Participants should
register by contacting Camilla Regan on +44 20 7251 3801 or at
camilla.regan@RLMFinsbury.com .
There will be a separate conference call for US analysts and investors
at 10.00 a.m. (EST). To register for this please contact Dana Diver at
Taylor Rafferty on +1 212 889 4350. Alternatively you may register
online by using the following link
http://invite.taylor-rafferty.com/_bskyb/2013Q2CC/Default.htm .
A live webcast of the UK and US call will be available to analysts and
investors via the BSkyB website at http://www.sky.com/corporate .
Replays will be subsequently available.
Schedule 1 - KPI Summary
All figures
(000)
FY10/11 FY11/12 FY12/13
unless
stated
Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2
Total 10,150 10,223 10,294 10,371 10,471 10,549 10,606 10,654 10,742
customers
10,096 10,147 10,187 10,213 10,253 10,268 10,288 10,308 10,333
Television
NOW TV - - - - - - - - 25
Sky+HD 3,497 3,686 3,822 3,925 4,063 4,222 4,343 4,468 4,561
Multi-
room 2,219 2,237 2,250 2,295 2,350 2,378 2,402 2,423 2,467
Broad-
band 3,006 3,161 3,335 3,485 3,651 3,863 4,001 4,103 4,235
Tele-
phony 2,757 2,916 3,101 3,248 3,407 3,627 3,768 3,888 4,022
Line 2,215 2,444 2,680 2,892 3,106 3,376 3,563 3,708 3,870
Rental
Total
paid-for 23,790 24,591 25,375 26,058 26,830 27,734 28,365 28,898 29,513
subscription
products
Connected 204 442 604 995 1,255 1,715
HD boxes
Sky Go 1,625 2,107 2,607 2,740 2,768 3,066
unique users
Total 27,887 29,379 30,945 32,100 32,921 34,294
Products
Other
metrics
Triple-
play % 24% 26% 27% 28% 29% 31% 32% 33% 33%
ARPU(GBP)GBP536 GBP537 GBP538 GBP535 GBP544 GBP546 GBP548 GBP550 GBP568
Churn 9.5% 10.4% 10.4% 11.1% 9.6% 10.1% 9.9% 10.9% 10.3%
Fixed
Network
Metrics
On-net
base 2,659 2,856 3,045 3,205 3,403 3,636 3,778 3,882 4,031
MPF base 1,247 1,435 1,686 1,869 2,146 2,423 2,588 2,762 2,926
SMPF
base 1,412 1,421 1,359 1,336 1,257 1,213 1,190 1,120 1,105
MPF % 47% 50% 55% 58% 63% 67% 69% 71% 73%
SMPF % 53% 50% 45% 42% 37% 33% 31% 29% 27%
Off-net
base 347 305 290 280 248 227 223 221 204
Total 3,006 3,161 3,335 3,485 3,651 3,863 4,001 4,103 4,235
Broadband
On-net % 88% 90% 91% 92% 93% 94% 94% 95% 95%
Total no.
of
LLU 1,434 1,549 1,577 1,732 1,907 1,964 1,965 2,036 2,108
exchanges
Related Party Transactions
Details of transactions with related parties during the six month
period to 31 December 2012 are provided in Appendix 1.
Principal risks and uncertainties
A summary of the Group's principal risks and uncertainties is provided
in Appendix 3.
Responsibility statement
The directors confirm that to the best of their knowledge:
* The unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial
statements have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 as adopted by
the EU.
* The interim management report includes a fair review of the
information required by DTR 4.2.7R and DTR 4.2.8R of the Disclosure and
Transparency Rules.
The directors of British Sky Broadcasting Group plc are listed on pages
40-41 of the 2012 Annual Report. At the Company's AGM on 1 November
2012 Jacques Nasser retired from the Board and on 30 January 2013 Tom
Mockridge retired from the Board. On 16 November 2012 Dave Lewis was
appointed to the Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director and on
30 January 2013 Chase Carey was appointed to the Board as a
Non-Executive Director.
By order of the Board
Jeremy Darroch
Chief Executive Officer
Use of measures not defined under IFRS
This press release contains certain information on the Group's
financial position, results and cash flows that have been derived from
measures calculated in accordance with IFRS. This information should
not be read in isolation from the related IFRS measures.
Forward looking statements
This document contains certain forward looking statements with respect
to the Group's financial condition, results of operations and business,
and our strategy, plans and objectives for the Group. These statements
include, without limitation, those that express forecasts, expectations
and projections, such as forecasts, expectations and projections in
relation to new products and services, the potential for growth of
free-to-air and pay television, fixed line telephony, broadband and
bandwidth requirements, advertising growth, DTH and OTT customer
growth, On Demand (previously Anytime+), NOW TV, Sky Go, Sky+HD and
other services penetration, revenue, administration costs and other
costs, advertising growth, churn, profit, cash flow, products and our
broadband network footprint, content, wholesale, marketing and capital
expenditure and proposals for returning capital to shareholders.
Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such
forward looking statements are reasonable, these statements are not
guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks,
uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control,
are difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied or forecast in the forward
looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to,
those risks that are highlighted in the document in Appendix 3 -"Principal
risks and uncertainties."
All forward looking statements in this document are based on
information known to the Group on the date hereof. The Group undertakes
no obligation publicly to update or revise any forward looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
Glossary of Terms
A glossary of terms is included within the Annual Report and on our
corporate investor relations web page at http://corporate.sky.com/
investors/glossary. Copies of the Annual Report are available from the
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc web page at www.sky.com/corporate
and in hard copy from the Company Secretary, British Sky Broadcasting
Group plc, Grant Way, Isleworth, Middlesex TW7 5QD.
Click on or paste the following link into your web browser to view
associated PDF document.
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7521W_-2013-1-30.pdf
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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