Comcast Corp. (CMCSA.O), coming off the US$39 billion purchase of Europe’s Sky Plc, reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit, fueled by its high-speed internet service.

- The largest U.S. cable company reported fourth-quarter profit of 64 cents a share, excluding some items, surpassing analysts’ estimates of 62 cents. Pro forma revenue, which assumes Comcast also owned Sky a year ago, grew 5.2 per cent, the company said Wednesday.

Key Insights

- Comcast’s profitable high-speed internet service attracted 351,000 new customers, roughly in line with a year earlier and close to analysts’ forecasts of 358,000. Comcast has been introducing faster internet service, hoping to attract more broadband customers to make up for the continued decline in cable-TV subscribers from cord cutting.

- The Philadelphia-based company lost 29,000 TV subscribers, which was slightly better than the 33,000 cable customers it shed a year ago and much better than the loss of 66,000 analysts had projected. Newly owned Sky managed to sign up 164,000 customers, a number that includes satellite TV, mobile and broadband service. While that was slower than a year ago, Sky’s overall sales grew 6 per cent.

- Comcast also announced it will raise its dividend by 10 per cent to 84 cents a share, a sign of confidence in the company’s ability to boost free cash flow while paying down its substantial debt from the Sky purchase.

Market Reaction

Comcast shares rose as much as 3.8 per cent to US$36.29 in early trading after the results were released.