Pay-radio operator Sirius-XM delivered one of its best-ever sets of results April 30th, saying that its Q1 2013 subscribers now topped 24.35 million (up 453,000 or 9.9 per cent y-o-y) and with record revenue growth of 12 per cent to $897 million ($805m in 2012) although this figure was about $12 million lower than consensus expectations.  Net income grew 15 per cent and EBITDA was up 26 per cent to a record $262 million ($208m in 2012).

ARPU is up from $11.77 per month to $12.05, although churn is also up from 1.9 per cent per month to 2.0 per cent. The broadcaster’s all-import new vehicle consumer conversion rate (which measures subscriber ‘converts’ following on from a ‘free’ new vehicle trial subscription is down 1 per cent from 45 per cent to 44 per cent.

The company is now guiding that net subscriber growth for this year will be around 1.2 million, with annual revenues of more than $3.7 billion.

Jim Mayer was confirmed as the company’s CEO, chairman Greg Maffei said.  Mayer had been running the business since last December.

Sirius-XM’s Q2 results should also be helped by very strong US new car sales, with April sales numbers expected to beat last year’s by around nine per cent. Sirius-XM benefits from such new car sales because a subscription is frequently built into the car’s forecourt price.

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Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Business, Digital Radio, Results