Share deal prompts minor rebellion

The key vote to effectively sign off on the in-principle deal with New Zealand Rugby passed with 99.9 per cent support, and the equity component of Sky Rugby Pass acquisition also received a strong endorsement with 98.4 per cent voting in favour.

But, notably, a chunky 25.6 per cent of shareholders voted against a resolution to issue chief executive Martin Stewart with 800,000 share rights under a salary scheme.

Investors were not told the cost of the NZ Rugby deal, beyond that it exceeded 50 per cent of Sky’s market cap, although Stewart said it was “materially more” than the previous five-year contract for All Blacks, Super Rugby and Mitre 10 Cup games. The Herald understands it increased by around $10 million per year to a total $400m.

Stewart reiterated his line that the provision to give NZ Rugby a 5 per cent shareholding in Sky was revolutionary.

New chairman Philip Bowman (exSky UK) said that with new competitive threats, the rise of streaming and increasing content costs, for the foreseeable future profits needed to be “reinvested to reposition the company”.

“Over the past few years, there’s been relentless attrition of subscribers. We need to change the way this business operates,” he said.

Sky shares, which dropped closed to 20 per cent to an all-time-low of 87c last week as Spark stole domestic cricket, then made up most of the ground on news of the Sanzaar deal, closed flat at $1.07. The stock is down 51.36 per cent for the year.