Q 1

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


Sirius XM Radio Inc. (SIRI) swung to a first-quarter profit on subscriber growth and little cost increase.

The satellite-radio operator teetered on the edge of bankruptcy before receiving a cash infusion from Liberty Media Corp. (LMCB) last year. The company has since cut operating costs and seen improvements to its revenue and bottom line.

Sirius on Tuesday affirmed its expectations to add more than 500,000 customers in 2010. The company last month said it added 171,441 subscribers during the quarter, 0.9% higher from the prior year's rate, and putting the total at 18.9 million, closing in on the 19-million level it had at the end of 2008.

"Continued positive subscriber growth, double-digit growth in revenue, and a sharp focus on costs resulted in the highest quarterly adjusted operating income in the company's history," Chief Executive Mel Karmazin said. "The continuing recovery of the automotive sector and expanding signs of increased consumer spending are encouraging signs for the company's growth prospects."

Sirius posted a profit of $41.6 million, or 1 cent a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $52.6 million, or 7 cents a share. Revenue increased 13% to $663.8 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected break-even results on revenue of $671 million.

Churn, or subscriber turnover, fell to 2% from 2.2% for self-pay customers. Average revenue per subscriber decreased 6.6%.

Shares of Sirius closed at $1.23 Monday and haven't traded premarket. The stock has more than doubled this year.

-By Jodi Xu, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3037; jodi.xu@dowjones.com