Liberty Global reports USD2.17 billion Q2 revenue

International cable company Liberty Global Inc has reported revenues of USD2.17 billion for the three months ended 30 June 2010. This figure represents an increase of 20% on the USD1.81 billion recorded a year earlier. Operating income increased from USD148.7 million to USD326.5 million over the corresponding period, whilst net losses were USD675.9 million, compared to a profit of USD1 million in Q2 2009. According to Liberty Global the increased net loss was driven largely by higher foreign currency transaction losses.

Liberty Global’s Belgian unit Telenet generated the largest portion of revenues, with sales of USD410.2 million, up 12.5% year-on-year. UPC, the group’s Broadband division, (comprising companies in Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and other countries across both western and eastern Europe) generated revenues of USD1.28 billion, an increase of USD279 million (27.9%). In terms of UPC’s broadband divisions, its German unit (which was acquired in January 2010) recorded revenues of USD293.9 million. UPC recorded 13.5 million broadband customers as of 30 June 2010 – a rise of 47.3% - from 9.16 million one year earlier. In terms of multi-play bundles, single-play customers increased 36.4% to 1.67 million, whilst double-play subscriber figures rose 9.9% to 2.57 million. Triple-play bundle users saw the largest percentage increase, growing 37.5% to 3.48 million.

Liberty Global President & CEO Mike Fries commented: ‘Our results demonstrate steady growth as we remain focused on driving penetration of our next-generation broadband and digital TV services. Looking ahead to the second half of the year, we believe that we will continue to successfully exploit our competitive advantages in broadband speeds, high-definition and on-demand programming. Together with the expansion of simplified triple play offerings in our fall campaigns, these should help drive faster organic RGU growth in the second half, particularly in Q4’.