As Media Insider reported today,<\/a> New Zealand Rugby is searching for a new sponsor of its major domestic competitions, after Bunnings and NZR parted ways.<\/p>\nShareholders with just over 63% of shares had voted before the meeting – with 98.7% support.<\/p>\n
Shareholders also voted overwhelmingly in favour of re-electing Bowman and directors Dame Joan Withers and Mark Buckman.<\/p>\n
Shareholder returns<\/p>\n
Bowman told shareholders that Sky\u2019s share price had appreciated 27% over the financial year. <\/p>\n
It was sitting at a five-year high of $3.60 when the NZX closed on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving confirmed dividend guidance for FY26 of at least 30 cents per share, management is on course to deliver against the target first communicated back in August 2023,\u201d Bowman told shareholders.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the current share price of $3.60, a 30 cent payout this year represents an impressive 8.3% cash yield and will deliver a further increase of 36% in our dividend \u2013 importantly one paid out of free cash flow and not debt \u2013 which provides a clear illustration of the strength of Sky\u2019s cash generation and your board\u2019s confidence in its sustainability.”<\/p>\n
Three acquisition<\/p>\n
Sky chief executive Sophie Moloney told shareholders today that the $1 acquisition of Three (TV3) from Warner Bros Discovery was a \u201cstrong strategic fit that propels our growth strategy in a way that would have been difficult to achieve organically\u201d. <\/p>\n
![\"Sky]()
Sky TV chief executive Sophie Moloney.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis includes access to the fast-growing ThreeNow digital platform, which expands our reach to a younger, more diverse audience that is highly attractive to content partners and advertisers alike. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs shared at the time, you do not get to acquire a business for $1 if it is profitable and the combined teams are working hard to deliver on the complex technology integration programme, while also remaining clear-eyed on delivering cost synergies and moving to capture the revenue growth opportunities ahead of us, particularly from FY27 onwards.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the shorter term, she said, Sky\u2019s freshly renamed sales team – Sky Business – was in the market with a \u201cunified sales proposition\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said the Three acquisition had also been a key factor in Sky\u2019s successful bid for the Summer and Winter Olympic Games through to Brisbane in 2032.<\/p>\n
Outlook<\/p>\n
Moloney said economic conditions remained challenging in Sky\u2019s new financial year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far, this is largely playing out as we anticipated, with continued pressure on revenues and added pressure on Neon subscriptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cNotwithstanding this pressure, there is no change to Sky\u2019s FY26 guidance provided in August on a stand-alone basis. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile trading conditions for Sky Free have been softer at the revenue level than expected in the initial \u2018stand-alone\u2019 period, lower-than-expected costs have somewhat offset the impact. <\/p>\n
\u201cImportantly, audiences have remained stable, and we are expecting positive signs in the 2026 calendar year as advertising brands and agencies see the benefits and new opportunities created by our unique combined proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said Sky still expected to deliver $3-$5 million of \u201csynergy benefits\u201d in this financial year and that Sky Free would contribute positive free cashflow in its first year. <\/p>\n
\u201cLooking further ahead, we are confident the acquisition will achieve at least $10 million of incremental EBITDA for the consolidated group by the end of FY28.\u201d<\/p>\n
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bowman told shareholders that the rugby rights negotiations concluded in August. The All Blacks will be on Sky…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14837,4765,69003,138,23159,3937,1656,8278,4611,2223,26635,10668,3938,1342,5504,2082,2936,1073,2374,97879,111,139,1536,69,17695,13120,10715,12718,6327,30203,8861,412,1529,6859,22974,437,1530],"class_list":["post-145671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-acquisition","tag-annual","tag-beds","tag-business","tag-challenging","tag-chief","tag-company","tag-conditions","tag-confident","tag-confirmed","tag-delivers","tag-economic","tag-executive","tag-five","tag-following","tag-for","tag-insider","tag-media","tag-meeting","tag-moloney","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-outlook","tag-remain","tag-remains","tag-rights","tag-rugby","tag-shareholders","tag-sky","tag-sophie","tag-three","tag-told","tag-track","tag-tv","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}