BSkyB investors to get 500m-pound windfall as profits surge

British Sky Broadcasting says it will return half a billion pounds to investors through a buy-back as punters continue to flock to the group's football and entertainment offering.

In the 12 months to the end of June BSkyB, which is 39% owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, saw revenues of £6.791bn, 4.5% ahead of the prior year and in line with market expectations.

Profits before tax were £1.148bn against £987m at year's end in 2011.

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Sky also managed to gain 312,000 new customers during the year to leave the total number at 10.6m, while the "churn rate", which measures how many people join and leave, reduced to 9.9%, better than the 10.5% analysts had been predicting.

Crucially for the firm, average revenue per user climbed from £538 per year in 2011 to £548 this year. This matters because the market is sceptical about whether the group can continue to add hundreds of thousands of new customers every year, as competition from the likes of Virgin Media and BT hots up.

What BSkyB is aiming at is to extract as much revenue as possible from its current client base through offering new services like multi-room and HD.

The £0.5bn buy-back programme follows a decision last year to return £750m in the wake of the failed bid for full control of BSkyB by News Corp.

The firm's Chief Executive, Jeremy Darroch, has denied that he overpaid for the rights to broadcast 116 Premiership matches between 2013 and 2014. The auction left BSkyB with a bill for £2.3bn, £700m more than the current deal.

He said today: "In what remains a tough economic environment, customers are choosing Sky over other providers. We've continued to add new households and existing customers are remaining loyal and taking more products from us."

BSkyB shares had gained 2% by 11:05.

BS