Sky results for the last twelve months

• 10% increase in revenue on a comparable 52 week basis to £12.9 billion; 5% growth at constant currency
• EBITDA of £2,139 million; operating profit of £1,468 million, down only £97 million after absorbing £629 million of Premier League costs
• Earnings per share of 61.4 pence, 3% lower
• Return to profit growth in Q4, operating profit up 8% to £455 million, EPS up 19%
• Statutory results: 8% revenue growth, operating profit of £964 million, EPS of 40.6 pence, up 4%
• 686,000 new customers to 22.5 million, with 77,000 in Q4; reached 5 million milestone in Germany in July
• Excellent year on screen with over 100 million viewers across Europe and a record number of Sky Originals on air including Riviera, our most popular premiere series to date
• Partner of choice for the best content providers with significant new rights acquired across all markets
• Innovation continuing to deliver for customers with Sky Q in over 1 million UK homes and newly launched Sky+Pro in Germany & Austria reaching 460,000 homes
• Expanding into new markets and building new revenue streams with the launch of Sky Mobile achieving high single-digit share of sales in June
• Strong set of growth plans for 2017/18

Jeremy Darroch, Group Chief Executive, commented:
“Sky’s growth and development has continued to be strong in 2017. We have driven a 10% increase in revenue on a comparable 52 week basis to £12.9 billion despite market headwinds. Operating profit is excellent, down £97 million despite additional Premier League costs and investment in new businesses, with particularly strong results in Germany & Austria and Italy where operating profit increased by £115 million. As we exit a year of investment, we returned to profit growth in the fourth quarter with operating profit up 8% and EPS up 19%.

Looking ahead we have a strong set of growth plans for the year. We will be increasing investment in Sky originals by 25% as we build on our track record for producing world-class entertainment. We will make the customer experience ever better as we roll out Sky Q to Italy, Germany and Austria while also launching Sky Q without the need for a satellite dish. We are creating 300 new technology roles to further enhance our capability to deploy in and out-of-home streaming platforms. Sky Mobile will continue to scale up as we take advantage of the headroom in our customer base and offer our customers more Sky products. Loyalty will be recognised and rewarded through a new tenure-based loyalty programme in the UK, building on the outstanding success of a similar programme in Italy. We will continue to identify opportunities to reach new customers through the recently launched new portfolio of channels and pricing to drive growth in Sky Sports UK and we intend to launch a simple and affordable OTT service in Spain. We will do all this while continuing to execute against our operating efficiency plans.

We enter 17/18 in a strong position with significant growth potential. Despite the broader consumer environment remaining uncertain, we are confident of delivering on the plans we’ve laid out as we continue to give our customers the best content, great products and industry leading service.”