Net income rose to $156.2 million, or 2 cents per share, in Q4 2012, compared with $71.3 million, or 1 cent per share, a year earlier. Total revenue rose 14% to $892.4 million, from $784 million in Q4 2011. Analysts had expected revenue of $898.65 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Adjusted EBITDA was $230 million for the Q4 of 2012, up 38%.
Sirius XM added 2 million subscribers in 2012, bringing its total subscriber base to 23.9 million. Self-pay net subscriber additions improved by 41% to approximately 529,000 in the fourth quarter of 2012 from approximately 374,000 in the Q4 2011.
Self-pay monthly churn was 1.8% in Q4, an improvement from 1.9% in the fourth quarter of 2011 and 2.0% in the Q3 2012. New vehicle consumer conversion rate was 44% in Q4 2012, unchanged from Q4 2011.
Free cash flow grew by 40% to $269 million in Q4 2012, a record amount for a single quarter, from $192 million in the Q4 2011.
“Thanks to the outstanding team at SiriusXM, we capped a great 2012 with a strong fourth quarter, adding more than 500,000 net new subscribers and attaining outstanding revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow. SiriusXM also returned capital to shareholders for the first time in the history of satellite radio through a $327 million special cash dividend in December. We are confident in our guidance for growth in 2013 and continue to be sharply focused on enhancing shareholder value, including through our recently announced common stock repurchase program that we are initiating this year,” said Jim Meyer, SiriusXM CEO. “We continue to broaden our Internet capabilities to expand the user experience and strengthen our in-vehicle technologies. We are thrilled to announce that our personalized radio feature, MySXM, is now in public beta testing and will be available to our Internet subscribers in the near future. We are committed to ensuring SiriusXM’s long-term leadership in audio and data services, particularly in vehicles, and we will do that by continuing to innovate and improve our technology, programming, and customer care.”
2013 Guidance
The company affirmed its 2013 subscriber, revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow guidance:
Self-pay net subscriber additions of approximately 1.6 million,
Total net subscriber additions of approximately 1.4 million,
Revenue of over $3.7 billion,
Adjusted EBITDA of over $1.1 billion, and
Free cash flow approaching $900 million.
