Sky announces 12 per cent increase in revenue as it reveals plans to introduce satellite dish-free service in UK
Sky today reported a jump in revenue in the six months ended 31 December, but said costs linked with the Premier League had hit profits during the period.
The figures
Revenue was up 12 per cent to £6.4bn from £6.04bn in the second half of 2015.
Operating profit dropped by nine per cent to £679m from £744m, and earnings per share were down five per cent to 28.3p from 29.9p.
Why it's interesting
The group said its profits were impacted by "significantly higher programming costs", which it put down to a step up in Premier League costs. Sky paid £4.2bn for a three-year deal for Premier League rights in 2015, up from the previous price of £2.3bn.
However, the company said the strength of its financial performance was demonstrated by the fact that operating profit was down by £65m despite an additional £314m in PL costs.
Profit came in slightly ahead of analysts' expectations of £673m.
What Sky said
"We have delivered a strong first half performance across the group, continue to make significant progress against our strategy and remain on track for the full year," said chief exec Jeremy Darroch.
"Across the half we have continued to drive customer and product growth in all our markets, adding over 500,000 new customers – faster growth than last year – and selling two million products.
"Whilst we expect the backdrop in our territories to remain uncertain, we are on track as we enter the second half of the financial year and we remain focused on delivering our clear strategy for growth."
The company also said today that it plans to launch its Sky TV service without the need for a satellite dish for the first time in the UK.
In short
Sky is still feeling a kick from its 2015 football rights deal, but today's results still came in ahead of analysts' expectations.