The asset manager’s concern stem from question over Murdoch’s ability to act independently from Fox in the event of a renewed takeover bid from the American company.
Ashley Hamilton Claxton, corporate governance Manager at RLAM said: “The reappointment of Mr Murdoch as chairman is inappropriate in our view. Should Fox make a bid for Sky, investors need a strong independent chairman to protect the interests of minority shareholders and negotiate the best possible deal.”
Royal London Asset Management holds 4.7m shares passively in Sky valued at £49m and accounting for 0.27% of the outstanding shares.
Sky announced Murdoch’s return this morning, Friday, alongside is first half results. Its shares responded well, climbing 2% to 1062p by late morning.
Sky reported operating profit was up 12%, revenue was up 5% and 337,000 new customers joined in Q2.
“This morning Sky announced in its H1 results that it had started the year with good momentum,” said Graham Spooner, investment research analyst at The Share Centre. “Operating profit was up by 12% at £747m, which investors should acknowledge was slightly higher than market forecast.”
“This is a company that now has over 21.5 million customers and CEO Jeremy Darroch believes that the group is well positioned to deliver further strong growth and returns for shareholders, courtesy of an outstanding set of new initiatives and products,” Spooner continued. “Subsequently, we recommend Sky as a ‘buy’ for medium risk investors seeking growth. The ability to win new customers and more importantly, to upgrade to a single package, along with the expansion of products, leads us to believe that the share price could again start to head in the right direction.”
