Arqiva has posted record annual revenues of £884.7 million.
The UK towers and communications company said its Terrestrial Broadcast revenue had increased by 4.6%, driven by an expansion in its DTT multiplex capacity. Multiplex-related revenues rose 10.6% during the financial year and all 30 streams on Arqiva’s national DTT platform are now fully utilised demonstrating the on-going attractiveness of the terrestrial platform to broadcasters.
However, satellite and media saw a 5.7% drop following the loss of some “low margin contracts”. This was compensated in part by a contract with Al Jazeera Media Network to provide its global teleport and satellite distribution services.
Mike Parton, Chairman, Arqiva said: “I am delighted with the progress the Group has demonstrated during Simon Beresford-Wylie’s first full year as CEO. We have simplified our portfolio and streamlined our organisational structure with a view to increasing efficiency and profitability, at the same time as pursuing our strategic goal of continuing Arqiva’s growth by maximising the capacity utilisation of our infrastructure and diversifying the applications for which our infrastructure can be used. Particularly pleasing was the increase in revenue from the Terrestrial Broadcast division and the Telecoms and M2M division of 4.6% and 6.1% respectively.”
Arqiva entered into a contract with Ofcom, major broadcasters and multiplex operators, to deliver the program to clear TV from 700 MHz spectrum for mobile data use through upgrades and replacements of broadcast station antennae.
Its also sold its Wi-Fi hotspot business to Virgin Media.
