By Simon Zekaria
LONDON--Sky PLC (SKY.LN) on Wednesday sounded an upbeat note as it reported a forecast-beating rise in quarterly earnings on higher revenue, boosted by its operations in the U.K. and Germany, as well as cost-cutting.
The pay-television giant, Europe's biggest pay-TV operator by customer numbers, said operating profit before exceptional items--a closely watched measurement of Sky's main business performance--rose 10% year-over-year to 375 million pounds ($579 million), higher than a consensus market forecast of GBP366 million. It didn't disclose net profit.
Revenue rose 6% to GBP2.79 billion, in line with a forecast of GBP2.78 billion.
The number of products its customers use, including broadband services and high-definition TV, jumped 937,000. It also added 134,000 customers in the quarter.
"We have made a strong start to the year," said Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch.
Sky is 39%-owned by 21st Century Fox Inc. /zigman2/quotes/207816609/composite FOXA +0.13% , which until June 2013 was part of the same company as The Wall Street Journal parent, News Corp. (NWS.AU).
Shares closed Tuesday at 1,069 pence.
-Write to Simon Zekaria at simon.zekaria@wsj.com
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