Liberty Global’s operating income increased from $327.1 million during the second quarter of 2010 to $530.8 million during the latest quarter.

   Liberty’s European cable division UPC also saw its revenues grow to $994.5 million, representing a second quarter, year-over-year increase of 7.6 percent backed on a 31 percent jump in operating income. UPC said its second quarter gains were driven by organic customer growth.

   UPC single-play customers decreased 7.5 percent to 5.51 million, while its double-play subscriber figures rose 1.3 percent to 1.91 million and its triple-play bundle users grew 14.7 percent to 2.48 million.

   “Our second quarter results demonstrate continued strength in our core European cable business, driven by our systems in Western Europe … In terms of our near-term operating outlook, we are working hard on our fall marketing campaigns and expect to generate healthy subscriber growth in the second half,” Liberty Global President and CEO Mike Fries said in a statement.

   Liberty has recently expressed an intention to expand its German markets through potential asset sales and new acquisitions. In July, Fries issued a statement that Liberty Global could sell its majority stake in Australian pay television company Austar United Communications to Foxtel for approximately $2.67 billion.

   “It’s a natural move. We were in that market for 15 years. Now there’s a growing platform in Europe, private equity is coming out and there’s great access to capital,” said Fries. “We’re hopeful of [European] regulatory approval. The combined German revenue of the companies would be around 1.5 billion euros ($2.14 billion). Understandably, Deutsche Telekom has a very strong opinion on cable consolidation in Germany.”

   Liberty’s second quarter performance displayed marked improvements from its previous quarter results, which were impacted by heavy competition from satellite operators and Internet streaming video services. Liberty reported a significant decline in profits from $737 million in its 2010 opening quarter to $342 million through the end of May 2011.