Jeremy Darroch received nearly £12m from Sky’s long-term incentive plan and a near maximum bonus of £1.9m

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Sky’s chief executive, Jeremy Darroch, was paid more than £16m in the year to the end of June, despite a hefty fall in annual profits at the broadcaster’s UK and Ireland business.

Darroch’s total remuneration almost quadrupled year-on-year, from £4.6m in 2016 to £16.3m last year, thanks to a payout of nearly £12m under Sky’s long-term incentive plan. The scheme, which vests every two years, paid him a more modest £4.7m in 2015.

He also received an almost maximum bonus of £1.9m, 186% of a potential 200% of his £1.04m annual salary.

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The payouts came as Sky’s total operating profits fell 6% to £1.47bn for the year. The UK, which accounted for £1.3bn of that, was down 14%.

Sky said it was an excellent performance given a one-off rise in the cost of its Premier League rights deal of £629m and £51m spent so far getting its mobile service up and running. Revenues across the group, which also has pay-TV operations in Germany, Italy and Austria, rose 10% to £12.9bn.

Darroch cashed in £11.5m in shares in July, and Andrew Griffith, Sky’s finance chief, sold £6.8m.

Sky also revealed that it had paid £16m to advisers in the year to the end of March in relation to 21st Century Fox’s takeover bid for the 61% of the company it does not already own.

The culture secretary, Karen Bradley, said on Tuesday that she would refer the deal to the competition regulator for a six-month investigation on media plurality and broadcasting standards grounds.

This means Sky shareholders can look forward to a £172m special dividend, which the satellite company said it would pay out if the deal did not complete this year.

The delay in completion means Sky investors will now also receive a further interim dividend of up to £224m, usually paid out at the end of March. Fox has promised a £200m break fee if the deal fails to be sealed.

Wilton Fry, an analyst at RBC Europe, said investors believed there was still an 85% chance that the Competition and Markets Authority would clear the deal.

RBC believes Fox will get the deal through by offering to separate Sky News to address news media control concerns.