Sirius xm Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) today announced third quarter 2009 financial and operating results, including $106 million in pro forma adjusted income from operations, marking the company’s fourth consecutive quarter of positive pro forma adjusted income from operations. The company also announced a 19% decrease in pro forma total cash operating expenses compared to the same quarter last year.
“We are very pleased with what we accomplished during the third quarter, especially when considering the macroeconomic issues affecting consumers and the auto industry,” said Mel Karmazin, Sirius XM’s CEO. “We managed to grow revenue, grow ARPU, reduce operating costs, increase adjusted income from operations significantly, and refinance higher cost debt. We look forward to continuing this performance. We grew subscribers and improved churn in the quarter, and we are well positioned to take advantage of an economic rebound. We expect to grow subscribers, revenue, and cash flow next year regardless of the magnitude of any recovery.”
Third quarter 2009 pro forma total revenue was $630 million, up 3% from third quarter 2008 pro forma total revenue of $613 million. Third quarter 2009 pro forma subscription revenue was $587 million, up 3% from the third quarter 2008 pro forma subscription revenue of $572 million. Pro forma amounts exclude the effects of stock-based compensation, purchase accounting adjustments, and assume the merger of SIRIUS and xm occurred on January 1, 2008. Monthly average revenue per subscriber (ARPU) was $10.87 in the third quarter 2009, up 3% from $10.51 in the third quarter 2008.
SIRIUS XM ended the third quarter 2009 with 18,515,730 total subscribers, a decrease of 2% from the third quarter 2008 pro forma total subscribers of 18,920,911 and an increase of 102,295 from the second quarter 2009 subscribers of 18,413,435. Self-pay subscribers were 15,456,748, up 266,160 from the 15,190,588 self-pay subscribers in the third quarter 2008 and up 35,405 from the second quarter 2009. The self-pay monthly customer churn rate was 2.0% in the third quarter 2009, in-line with the second quarter 2009, and up from a pro forma 1.7% churn rate in the third quarter 2008. Ending promotional subscribers were 3,058,982 in the third quarter 2009.
In the third quarter 2009, SIRIUS XM achieved positive pro forma adjusted income from operations of $106 million as compared to a pro forma adjusted loss from operations of ($37) million in the third quarter 2008. The third quarter 2009 US GAAP net loss was ($149) million, or ($0.04) per share, and included $138 million, or ($0.04) per share, in net charges for the loss on the extinguishment of debt and credit facilities resulting from refinancing of debt at lower cost. Absent these charges, the US GAAP net loss per share was ($0.00). Third quarter 2009 free cash flow was $27 million compared to ($98) million of pro forma free cash flow in the third quarter 2008.
