SiriusXM tops target numbers
November 1, 2021
By Chris Forrester
US pay-radio operator, SiriusXM – majority owned by John Malone’s Liberty Media – has posted revenues of $2.2 billion (€1.9bn) for its 3rd quarter ended September 2021. This compares to year-ago revenues of $2.03 billion (up 9 per cent).
The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The company recorded net income of $343 million in the third quarter of 2021, compared to $272 million in the prior year period.
The broadcaster now has 32 million subscribers, and Q3 saw a net 616,000 (same period last year of 169,000 net adds) and representing a 264 per cent increase year-on-year.
But SiriusXM cannot rest on past laurels. It has now raised its own guidance for this current year.
“By adding a record 616,000 net new SiriusXM self-pay subscribers in the third quarter, we attained our prior full-year guidance of approximately 1.1 million net additions in just nine months. We are increasing all of our financial guidance for 2021 and expect to add more than 1.1 million net new self-pay SiriusXM subscribers this year, making 2021 our best for self-pay subscriber growth since 2018. During the quarter, we saw continued low monthly churn and outstanding ARPU performance in the SiriusXM business, and we are also making important progress driving advertising growth at Pandora,” said Jennifer Witz, CEO at SiriusXM.
The uplifted guidance, in summary, says that for the full year, it now expects:
· SiriusXM self-pay net subscriber additions of over 1.1 million,
· Total revenue of approximately $8.65 billion,
· Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $2.75 billion, and
· Free cash flow of over $1.8 billion.