DirecTV First-Quarter Loss Narrows

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DirecTV Group Inc. said Monday that its first-quarter loss narrowed from last year due to a sharp jump in subscriptions and higher revenue at DirecTV U.S., sending its shares surging 5 percent.


The El Segundo-based company controlled by News Corp. reported a net loss of $41.4 million (3 cents per diluted share) for the first quarter ended March 31, compared with a loss of $638.8 million (46 cents) for the like period a year earlier. Revenue rose to $3.1 billion from $2.5 billion in the year-ago period.


Analysts had expected the company to post a loss of 1 cent per share on sales of $3 billion.


DirecTV U.S. gross subscriber additions increased by 20 percent to 1.1 million. After accounting for the rate at which customers defect, 1.5 percent in the period, DirecTV U.S. added 505,000 net subscribers during the quarter, an increase of 21 percent year-over-year. Average revenue per user rose 3.5 percent to $65.78.


The total number of DirecTV platform subscribers increased 14 percent to 14.5 million from 12.6 million platform subscribers a year ago.


DirecTV U.S. generated quarterly revenues of $2.8 billion, an increase of 35 percent compared to last year’s first-quarter revenues. The company also has operations in Latin America.


The net loss of 41.4 million in the first quarter was smaller than that of the prior year period due to various charges in the 2004 result.


Shares of DirecTV were up 5.2 percent to $14.86 in late-morning trading.