SiriusXM Holdings announced on Thursday first quarter results signaling a good start to 2017 for the company.
The satellite radio broadcaster saw first quarter revenue jump by 8% to a total of $1.3 billion driving quarterly net income to $207 million, which was up about 20% from the same quarter in 2016. Adjusted EBITDA grew 14% in the quarter to $502 million, which is the first time the company “ever generated over a half-billion in adjusted EBITDA,” according to James Meyer, CEO of SiriusXM.
SiriusXM added 259,000 self-pay subscribers during the quarter ending March 31, bringing its total number of subscribers to 31.6 million. “Paid promotional subscribers were roughly steady in the quarter based on flat new car auto sales,” Meyer says. The company now has trial programs in now in place at 27,000 new and used auto dealers, up from 20,000 a year ago.
“We are delivering a bundle of compelling, timely and entertaining programming for subscribers,” Meyer said on this morning’s Q1 conference call. The company’s new offerings included series from Brooke Shields and Jim Parsons along with a new daily show starring Craig Ferguson.
SiriusXM earlier this week announced that its board of directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.01 per share of common stock, payable in cash on May 31, 2017, to stockholders of record.
Free cash flow did drop for the first quarter of 2017, according the data provided by SiriusXM, down to $249 million from $328 in Q1 2016. “The decline is free cash flow was due to payments for satellites, the effect of the legal settlement associated with pre-1972 sound recordings and a shift in timing of OEM payments,” according to David Frear, executive VP and CFO of SiriusXM.
SiriusXM’s biggest technical initiative continues to be the development and deployment of 360L, the company’s next generation two-way platform for connected vehicles, according to Meyer. “Our vision is simple. We want to provide a seamless easy to access and easy to use listening experience in the connected car,” Meyer says.
Along those lines the satcaster announced today it has acquired Automatic Labs Inc., a San Francisco-based connected vehicles services provider for individual consumers and larger enterprises. The addition of Automatic Labs “adds to the unique position SiriusXM holds in the connected car ecosystem,” according to a company press release.
“Automatic’s data-driven platform enables vehicle owners to be safer and drive smarter. The company’s proprietary Automatic Pro and Automatic Lite connected car adapters provide diagnostic alerts, emergency crash assistance, fuel monitoring, live vehicle location tracking and overall vehicle health,” according to the SiriusXM press release announcing the acquisition.
Meyer said on today’s earnings call Automatic’s technology allows SiriusXM to target the vast majority of cars on the road today that have no connectivity.
The transaction closed just this week, according to SiriusXM. No sales price was disclosed.
