New York – Sirius XM Radio raised its forecast for full-year
subscriber growth to 750,000 net new subscribers from a previously forecast
500,000, and it raised its pro forma revenue forecast to $2.75 billion from
$2.7 billion. Last year’s revenues were $2.53 billion.
The rosier scenarios followed the
that, in its fiscal first quarter ending March, the company posted
a net profit on a GAAP basis for the second quarter in a row and expanded its
subscriber base for the third quarter in a row.
For the first quarter, the company attributed its 171,441 net
subscriber additions to better-than-expected new-car sales, improving retail
sales, and a greater number of new-car buyers converting promotional
subscriptions to paid subscriptions. Also playing a role were a small but
growing number of used-car OEM-radio reactivations and a churn rate that fell
to 2 percent of the subscriber base from a year-ago 2.2 percent.
For the quarter ending March 31, Sirius XM expanded its
subscriber base by 171,441 people to 18.9 million. By early May, however, continued
net adds boosted subscriber levels beyond the company’s 19 million peak enjoyed
at the end of 2008, CEO Mel Karmazin said at the time.
