Sky Network Television, New Zealand's major pay-TV company, posted a 3.8 per cent gain in first-half profit, reflecting a jump in subscribers to its My Sky set-top box and higher revenue per user on the back of new channels such as SoHo.
Net profit rose to $62.6 million, or 16.08 cents a share, from $60.4 million, or 15.49 cents a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Sales rose 7.3 percent to $426.9 million. The results about matched forecasts from Forsyth Barr and First NZ Capital.
The company's My Sky subscribers rose 43 percent to 331,041, pushing the total customer base to 846,340. Sky's services are now beaming into 49.2 percent of the nation's 1.6 million households, up from 47.6 percent a year earlier. Shares of the company climbed 2 percent from a 1 ½-year low to $5.05.
"The improved financial position is primarily due to the continued success of the My Sky HDi decoders, a positive period for advertising sales, higher average revenue per user resulting from revenues from the new SoHo channel which launched in November 2011 and strong subscriber acquisition," chief executive John Fellet said in the statement.
The company didn't give guidance for the full year. It will pay a first-half dividend of 11 cents, more than analysts had expected and up from 8 cents a year earlier.
