BSkyB today claimed more customers were choosing more of its products “than ever before” as it beat City forecasts with annual profits of £958 million and raised the dividend by nearly 30 per cent.

The pay-TV broadcaster said its ‘See, Speak, Surf’ marketing campaign was paying off with strong growth across its TV, telephone and broadband packages.

New customer additions during the year to June 30 topped 1.4 million, the highest since 2001.

It came as BSkyB unveiled a new partnership with Sony that will allow PSP owners to download films and TV shows onto their hand-held games consoles from PCs early next year.

The joint venture will be the first official PSP video download service anywhere in Europe.

James Murdoch, chief executive, said: “This year has been one of enormous importance and change for us, with the launch of our broadband and talk services transforming our business and our future prospects fundamentally.

“This expanded product range is now attracting new customers to Sky at a very healthy pace, as well as deepening our relationships with existing customers.”

Results from the group, 39.1 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times and Times Online, showed full-year underlying operating profits rose 6 per cent £958 million.

Revenue climbed 10 per cent to £4.5 billion with advertising revenue up 3 per cent and average revenue per user climbing to £412, £21 above a year ago.

The gross margin increased by two percentage points to 63 per cent despite an extra £76 million being spent on sports programming.

BSkyB now has nearly 8.6 million subscribers across the UK and today reiterated its goal of reaching 10 million by 2010.

Sky Broadband signed up 716,000 customers during the year while Sky Talk has 526,000 customers, an increase of 342,000 on 12 months ago.

Investors will share in the growth with the annual dividend up 27 per cent to 15.5p per share, a payout equal to 44 per cent of BSkyB’s underyling earnings.

Shares in the group, which have climbed 32 per cent in the past six months, eased 2p to 673.5p. Analysts had been expecting strong results following better-than-expected subscriber numbers two weeks ago.

Paul Howard, media analyst at Cazenove, said the level of dividend was a surprise but insisted it should “be seen as a sign of confidence”.

He added: “We still believe Sky will continue to emerge as a key winner in the provision of converged services and believe its current package of brand, services and content remain compelling value amidst an increasingly competitive market.”

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