Speaking at the pay-television company's half-year results briefing, Chief Executive, John Fellett said the opportunity had about a 20 per cent chance of success. He declined to give details, but said: "The opportunity is big enough that it would warrant the board delaying any decisions on buyback before they've had a chance to review it."
Sky TV's shareholders last October approved the buyback, under which its major shareholder News Corp would increase its stake from 43.65 per cent to 45.95 per cent. Mr Fellett said that, along with the new opportunity and a special dividend, it was one of the company's options to return capital to shareholders at a time when it considers its shares are under-valued.
"We never said we were definitely going to do it," he said. "We just wanted the option to do it and that vote gave us that option".
Sky TV's share price closed at $5 after a strong interim result at the top end of analysts' expectations. After-tax profit was up 40.3 per cent to $51.2 million for the six months to December 31. Revenue increased 8.3 per cent to $328 million.
