James Murdoch returns as Sky chairman

Sky has announced James Murdoch will return as chairman of the FTSE 100 broadcaster, as the company announced strong revenue growth for the first half of the year.

It will be his third time leading the company, after serving as chief executive from 2003 to 2007, and then chairman from 2007 to 2012.

He then stepped down to distance the broadcaster from the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

Murdoch replaces Nicholas Ferguson CBE, who will leave after serving the company for 12 years on the board and the last four as chairman.

Martin Gilbert has been appointed deputy chairman, while Andrew Sukawaty becomes a senior independent director.

The company also said in its interim results on Friday that statutory revenue for the six months to 31 December jumped 5% to £5.72bn from £5.44bn.

That was driven by signing up 337,000 new customers in the second quarter - the company’s highest UK and Ireland growth in 10 years – and sold 1.1m extra paid-for products.

Operating profit for the period rose 12% to £747m, and the company declared a dividend of 12.6p per share.

Sky’s group chief executive Jeremy Darroch said the results show the business’ strategy to broaden the business and expand into new markets and customer segments is working.

“All of our markets are now clearly benefiting from our leadership in content and innovation and being part of the broader Sky,” he said.

“The launch of Sky Q will redefine our top-end TV experience and extend our market-leading portfolio of products to serve the needs of every customer.”