BskyB shares climb after record results

BSkyB has announced record nine-month profits this morning, in the same week that saw MPs label major shareholder Rupert Murdoch "unfit" to run an international media group.

The broadcaster posted a 25% jump in operating profits to a record £939m in the nine-months to the end of March, while revenue was up 5% to £5.1bn. It drove shares in BSkyB higher on an otherwise dismal day's trading in London, with the group up 2.03% at 705p. The dominant pay-TV group now has 10.55m customers, after adding 78,000 net new households in the third quarter. The group also got a £31m boost from Murdoch's News Corporation - which owns 39% of BSkyB - as a break fee for its failed attempt to take control of the company. Jeremy Darroch, the chief executive said: "We hav...