Results for the three months ended 30 September 2009

The strong operational performance is reflected in today’s financial results.

Progress against our priorities

• Acceleration of customer growth with net additions of 94,000 to reach 9.536 million households
• Strong demand for Sky+HD with 287,000 net additions, a threefold increase on the prior year, to reach a total of 1.6 million households
• Increased percentage of customers taking TV, broadband and telephony to 17%; up from 12% in the prior year
• Good progress in the roll-out of our new voice network; over 70% of exchanges now upgraded and enabled for full unbundling
• Wider access to Sky channels with agreement to launch Sky Player on Fetch TV in early 2010 and on Xbox consoles later this year

Strong Financial Performance

• Double-digit revenue and earnings growth
• Group revenue up 10% to £1,380 million, with 15% growth in retail subscription revenue reflecting growth in customers and product penetration
• Adjusted operating profit up by 9% to £198 million including the upfront cost of strong demand for Sky+HD; reported operating profit up by 11% to £198 million
• Continued progress in broadband and telephony
• Adjusted basic EPS growth of 15% to 7.0 pence; basic EPS of 7.4 pence

Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive, said:

“Our business has made a good start to our 2010 financial year with another quarter of strong results. In what continues to be a tough economic environment, we have increased the number of customers joining Sky. High definition has continued to perform very well and more customers are saving money by choosing Sky for each of TV, broadband and telephony.

The strong operational performance is reflected in today’s financial results. We absorbed the short-term costs of customer demand and delivered double-digit revenue growth, 9% growth in operating profit, and 15% growth in EPS.

"As the year continues, we’ll maintain a clear focus on our customers and on delivering on our priorities, all with the aim of building a larger, more profitable, and better business.”

http://corporate.sky.com/documents/pdf/press_releases/Q1_10_Press_Release