I would now like to hand the conference over to Sophie Moloney, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.
[Non-English content]. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Sky's 2026 Full Year Results Briefing. I am Sophie Moloney, your Chief Executive, and I am happy to be here with David Mackrell, Sky's Chief Financial Officer. Let me take you through the plan for today. I will begin with the full year highlights before reviewing performance against the three-year targets set in FY 2023 and the strategic delivery this year. David will then take you through the financial and operational performance. I will then share the outlook, guidance, and capital management, along with our strategic position as we take a moment to look ahead to FY 2031. We will then open the line for your questions.
Looking at the highlights. FY 2026 was a year of strategic wins and strong financial performance despite a difficult market. We delivered solid earnings growth, supported by greater scale and diversity and disciplined cost management. Strategically, the most notable wins were in programming and the integration of Sky Free. Over the past 12 months, we have strengthened our unrivaled sports rights portfolio through successive announcements of key long-term deals. We have progressively implemented the radical refresh of our entertainment strategy. We also completed the technical and operational integration of Sky Free while continuing to deliver for audiences. As well as being a strong strategic fit, the acquisition delivered a NZD 31 million bargain gain on purchase, synergies ahead of target at NZD 8 million, and a cash flow positive outcome in year one.
We also continue to generate strong free cash flows that underpin the FY 2026 fully imputed dividends of NZD 0.32 per share. The board's ongoing confidence in the cash generation profile, combined with a healthy balance sheet, is behind the dividend projections. To our headline results, which we have adjusted to allow for a like-for-like view of underlying performance given the number of significant one-off items. We delivered a strong result, with Sky Free adding revenue momentum while our cost discipline continued across the business. This means that group revenue increased 9% and underlying EBITDA was up 6%, towards the top of guidance. Underlying CapEx reduced by 9% and normalized free cash flow increased 60%, supporting dividend growth of 45%.
Three years ago, we communicated bold targets for the Sky standalone business to allow the market to check our homework. For most of those three years, we have faced a prolonged economic downturn. We also navigated an accelerated satellite migration, acquired a strategically and financially valuable business, and completed its complex integration. Against this backdrop, today, we are reporting against those three-year targets and reflecting on what else we have achieved over this time.
Starting with the targets. We fell short on standalone revenue growth given those market conditions, coupled with the impact of the satellite migration. Importantly, despite those revenue challenges, we delivered programming cost and CapEx ratios well within target ranges, improving earnings and cash generation. That lifts the Sky standalone EBITDA margins to 21%-22%. Customer net promoter score improved 11 points. That is meaningful progress, but not yet where we want it to be, and we continue to chase this down. I am particularly proud of employee engagement, up 22 points and 57% above target. Bringing teams together is an important part of any acquisition, so the five-point uplift in FY 2026 is a great indicator of the progress we are making and the strong outcomes we have achieved.
Perhaps the boldest of our targets, to double the FY 2023 dividend of NZD 0.15 per share, has been well and truly delivered with confirmation of a full-year dividend of NZD 0.32 per share. On that note, I will now hand you over to David.
Thanks, Sophie, and good morning, everyone. I will now take you through the performance in more detail. The underlying EBITDA increased 6% to NZD 157 million, reflecting the additional scale following the acquisition of Sky Free and lower costs in the standalone business. Sky Free contributed 11 months of incremental revenue, and the associated cost impacted all cost lines. Lower programming costs in the Sky standalone business largely offset the program-related costs introduced with Sky Free. Also of note is the growth in the broadband business was a key driver of the increased broadcast and infrastructure costs. Overall, the improved earnings are driven from increased scale, disciplined cost management, and synergies from the acquisition. Underlying revenue increased 9% to NZD 826.1 million, with Sky Free the key driver of the increase.
The 11 months Sky Free contribution was NZD 77.2 million, comprising NZD 74.2 million of advertising revenue and NZD 3 million of other revenue. Sky standalone revenue declined a modest 0.8%, with the trend improving in the second half. Within subscription revenue, streaming growth partially offset the reduction in Sky Box customer revenue. Sky standalone advertising also recorded modest growth despite the prior period including the Paris Olympics. Following the acquisition of Sky Free, the expanded advertising portfolio represents a much stronger proposition for the advertising market.
Now turning to revenue by product and beginning with the Sky Box, which has shown a continuing retention improvement. Annualized churn reduced to 10.2%, the lowest since FY 2022, helping to slow the decline in customers and revenue. Importantly, 86% of the base has been with Sky for more than five years, and churn in that group reduced to 8.3%. Revenue was NZD 446 million, compared with NZD 470 million in FY 2025, with 422,000 customers at the end of the year. ARPU improved to more than NZD 85 through sport price increases and higher sport penetration. Adoption of the digital Sky experience increased to 41% of the base. Accelerating this transition is a priority for the year ahead, as the enhanced viewing experience has a positive impact on both NPS and churn.
Sky Sport Now, our sports streaming product, has continued to grow, with revenue 13% higher at NZD 76 million through a 9% increase in customers and a 7% increase in ARPU to NZD 48. Growth in the customer base included incremental day pass take-up and a 31% increase in monthly pass sales, both helped by the removal of the weekly pass in January 2025. The premium pass, launched in November 2025, added another tier of incremental revenue following the introduction of 4K. After a challenging first half for our entertainment streaming product, Neon, the second half rebound has been dramatic.
With five consecutive months of growth, the customer base grew 17% to finish the year on 252,000 after being as low as 215,000 at the half year. Revenue held up well, increasing by 2% on higher ARPU, a good result given average subscriber numbers were 9% lower than the prior year. We launched its new brand proposition in May, giving Neon a clearer voice and a steadier rhythm of premium content with a strong pipeline. There is more work ahead, of course, but it is great to see the refreshed approach in action. Broadband delivered another year of double-digit growth. Customers increased 15% to 59,000 in a competitive market, driving a 28% increase in revenue to NZD 47 million. ARPU increased to NZD 71.32 as a result of an October 2025 price increase, partially offset by more customers choosing the lower price starter plan.
Bundling continues to demonstrate the opportunity, with 11% of Sky Box customers currently taking Sky Broadband. This increases to 14% among customers acquired in the year. Turning to our venue business, which has performed well, although revenue was 2% softer at NZD 52 million, with pressure in the accommodation and retail sectors partially offset by growth in licensed premises. There are some encouraging signs as we launched the new Sky Box Business Edition in the first half. Tailored to the needs of the sector, it has been well-received, with take-up already at 22% of accommodation sector devices. This solution brings Sky content, on-demand viewing, and selected third-party streaming apps together in one secure, in-room entertainment experience for guests. Now turning to advertising revenue on slide 19 and a significant step change for the business. Revenue increased 131% to NZD 132 million.
That reflects 11 months of Sky Free ownership and modest growth in the standalone business. Advertising now represents 16% of total Sky revenue, compared to just 8% previously. 22% of advertising revenue is from the fast-growing digital segment. Within Sky standalone, digital advertising revenue more than doubled during the year, including the launch of digital ads on the new Sky Box and Sky Go. The total digital advertising market is around NZD 3 billion, of which 22% is video, which demonstrates the digital advertising opportunity for Sky. Our share of the broadcast advertising market more than doubled to 35.2%, in line with the acquisition modeling. While the sector was under pressure, there were signs of market improvement in the fourth quarter. The unified sales team has been in place since the start of the second half, presenting Sky's full range of advertising opportunities to customers.
Turning to operating expenses, there are lower programming costs in the standalone business and above-plan delivery of year one synergies limited the cost increase to 10% across the expanded business. Overall, the underlying total operating expenses increased to NZD 670.3 million as Sky Free was integrated into the group. The most significant movements were programming costs, with standalone costs reduced 8% to NZD 354.5 million or 47.3% of revenue. This reflected major event timing and disciplined content negotiations and choices. These reductions more than offset new commitments, including additional entertainment content in the second half. This reduction meant that across the group, the net increase in programming costs was limited to just NZD 7.9 million after the inclusion of Sky Free costs.
Subscriber-related costs were NZD 5.6 million higher, largely due to the addition of Sky Free costs, and included investment in brand and marketing across both paid and free products, with spend weighted to the second half of the year. Broadcasting and infrastructure costs reflected the growth in broadband together with the addition of Sky Free costs. While advertising costs increased with the scale and activity supporting the advertising revenue growth. The cost base now supports a much broader business with opportunities for further optimization across the group. Underlying CapEx expenditure reduced 9% to NZD 59.1 million. The reduction reflects lower spend on customer equipment and the fact that FY 2025 included early replacement of transmission equipment to support the satellite migration. This was partially offset by the increased investment in projects, including the Sky Free integration.
Underlying capital expenditure represented 7.5% of Sky standalone revenue, well within the current target ratio of 7%-9% of revenue. The core business generated NZD 55.1 million in free cash flow, more than double last year's NZD 24.8 million. Free cash flow benefited from improved earnings, lower capital expenditure, no tax payments, and favorable working capital movements, with some offset from higher lease principal payments. Cash on hand also benefited from NZD 24.9 million received on completion of the Sky Free acquisition and NZD 8.2 million from Optus compensation related to expenditure in prior years. Some of this cash has been utilized to settle the acquired liabilities and to contribute to integration costs.
Integration costs had a net impact of NZD 7.1 million, with approximately NZD 4.8 million expected in FY 2027. The NZD 100 million bank facility remained undrawn, and we closed the year with NZD 79.1 million of cash, an increase of NZD 46.7 million. The strong free cash flow enabled the board's decision to pay a final fully imputed dividend of NZD 0.17 per share, bringing the dividend for FY 2026 to NZD 0.32 per share, demonstrating further growth in shareholder returns and exceeding the FY 2026 target dividend. The increased dividend represents 74.9% of normalized free cash flow, as shown in the table in the list of this slide. I will now hand back to Sophie to cover the outlook for FY 2027 and beyond.
Thanks, David. Great job. I want to now talk about outlook, guidance, and our capital management plans before closing with a few comments on the critical building blocks that underpin our confidence as we plot a path to our ambitions in FY 2031. To the outlook for FY 2027. First up, we acknowledge trading conditions are likely to continue to be challenging, and our revenue guidance of NZD 825 million to NZD 840 million reflects that. That said, we remain focused on the opportunities to optimize the business following the successful integration of Sky Free, which is the basis of our EBITDA guidance of NZD 155 million to NZD 165 million. CapEx is expected to be similar to FY 2026. As I'll speak to in a moment, we expect the dividends to be at least NZD 0.35 per share.
Looking ahead, we remain on track to deliver at least NZD 10 million of incremental EBITDA by FY 2028. That brings us to capital management, where our approach is built around sustainable growth and free cash flow to keep progressively increasing returns to shareholders. From FY 2027 through to FY 2029, we're targeting 10% annual dividend growth, and we're moving to paying quarterly. We're targeting lower capital intensity of 6%-8% of revenue while continuing to invest selectively for growth. Beyond that, we'll continue to weigh investment opportunities against other uses of capital. Where we don't see a superior opportunity, we'll consider returning surplus capital to shareholders. That could include buybacks and special dividends, with the board signaling today that we'll consider initiating a buyback following the FY 2027 interim results.
I now want to look beyond FY 2027 and share the ambition we're building towards, and why we believe Sky is well-positioned to deliver on it. On the basis of the work completed to date, the Sky board and management team have an aligned ambition to significantly grow revenue by FY 2031, with 20%-30% of that growth coming from non-subscription sources. We intend to deliver that alongside margin expansion, earnings growth, and disciplined capital management while operating within our CapEx envelope. This is not growth at any cost. This is a growth ambition built around delivering sustainable value for shareholders. Our confidence is grounded in having the critical building blocks in place.
This includes a match-fit team with a demonstrated ability to drive margin and free cash flow, secured long-term sports rights, a flexible and audience-led entertainment strategy, and greater audience scale and reach across digital with a richer data set. Expanding first on our content. Sky's formidable position in must-watch premium sport has been significantly reinforced. We have secured the strategically important rights for key sports for the longer term, including an expanded slate of rugby content out to the end of 2030, with the Greatest Rivalry tour currently demonstrating the added value for our rugby fans. The Olympic rights out to Brisbane in 2032, which is the closest we'll get to having home games in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The New Zealand Cricket rights returning to Sky with the highly anticipated India tour now just eight weeks away, adding to our strong complement of international cricket deals, including with the England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Australia, the latter of which will see us showcasing the Black Caps most likely winning this year's Boxing Day test. Last month, we renewed the hugely popular National Rugby League rights for seven years from the start of 2028, thereby extending these rights out to the end of 2034.
As of today, the very exciting news that we have renewed the Premier League also out until 2034. The power of these rights deals is not just in securing the sport we know New Zealanders love, but also the tenure, deliberately staggered and enabled by the strength of our balance sheet. Critically, Sky's value is not built around one code or one season. We showcase major local and global sport throughout the year. This is important because the average sports fan follows multiple sports with our bundle offering compelling year-round value. Our coverage brings audiences all the action of game time, providing the high-attention opportunities that advertisers value. It does not stop at the final whistle. With replays, highlights, expert analysis, and behind-the-scenes stories that keep viewers engaged and help grow fandom.
We do that across a full range of platforms, through Sky and Sky Sport Now, free-to-air with the strategic use of Three and ThreeNow, and across social media. If you are a sports fan or a sport partner, there is simply no better place to be than with Sky. From an entertainment perspective, we have executed on our strategy to unshackle ourselves and Neon from a single supply risk to a more flexible multi-studio model that delivers a steadier drumbeat of quality content and also allows us to respond faster to audience trends guided by our data. Neon is a great example of that refreshed approach in action, as are the launch of our own curated channels such as Sky Drama, which not only reflect better customer choice, but also better margins.
Local content continues to resonate with audiences, and with the addition of Three and ThreeNow and the support of NZ On Air, we have secured a stronger pipeline of new local titles. This builds on our FY 2026 success, including "Bust Up," a local title that was recently in our top 10 titles on Neon. The latest survey from NZ On Air reinforces the value that our audiences place on local, with 81% of New Zealanders liking seeing ourselves on screen. As an essential media business, you will have also seen us strengthen our presence in news, in partnership with leading news organizations Stuff and NZME. In the coming months, this includes special election programming designed to inform debate and for Sky to play our part.
As we shared in the annual report letter, at the heart of where we are heading is a fundamental shift from thinking about products and subscribers to thinking about audiences. We are now reaching more New Zealanders than ever before, with the addition of Sky Free significantly broadening and diversifying our audience. That scale gives audiences more choice, gives us more ways to optimize content, and gives advertisers one integrated way to connect across the portfolio. Each one of these platforms is a window for audiences to engage with a part or all of our content bundle. Behind the scenes, it also creates opportunities to simplify and to unlock margin through unifying our data and technology. Part of this unlock reflects the reality that our audience is already increasingly digital, with 70% of paid customers already engaging with Sky through a digital service.
Our streaming position is strong across paid and free, with the addition of ThreeNow providing the opportunity to engage with younger and more diverse audiences. Our social following has doubled in the last year to reach 4.1 million followers, connecting new and younger audiences to relationships with our portfolio of programming. As partners appreciate, greater digital reach means richer audience data. This has a compounding impact on better decisions across content and opportunities to monetize through advertising. Bringing all of this together, we are working towards one audience-led, connected Sky ecosystem enabled by data and technology with less cost and complexity. It is underpinned by our purpose to share stories, to share possibilities, and to share joy. And by our enduring commitment to be a sustainably profitable Aotearoa New Zealand-focused business.
That is the Sky we are building, with the foundations already secured to drive sustainable value in the years ahead. With that, I will now hand back to the operator, and we look forward to your questions.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key, followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Ben Crozier from Forsyth Barr. Please go ahead.
Morning, team. Can I just, first one on your comment around aiming for significant revenue growth. Can you sort of break this down between what is just achieving this 20%-30% non-subscription target, which is presumably mostly advertising, and then sort of the core subscription platform as we look at, if you strip out Sky Broadband at a subscription that has sort of ticked backwards slightly over the last couple of years, do you think you can get that back into growth too?
Hey, Ben. Nice to hear from you. We are obviously not giving much detail of how we are going to grow that revenue other than to talk about that 20%-30%, but we certainly see opportunity on the subscription side of our business as well. We have got an incredible array of content. What we are looking to do is to make it easier for our teams to actually deliver that great content to our customers and alongside advertisers. You are spot on to think that the 20%-30% is largely advertising, but we do have incredibly rich data that we think is valuable in this market. On the subscription side, yeah, there is still a lot of opportunity for us, particularly as you will appreciate with our new sport and entertainment strategy.
Yeah, and thank you. Maybe just one on content cost now. Obviously, you signed a couple of these big deals, and there is a lot of movement in that sort of programming rights line with Cricket coming back in, HBO going out, and National Rugby League step up. Previously, you have had a 46%-48% of revenue target. Is that sort of broadly where you are still targeting, or have you seen a bit of content cost inflation through that line?
Well, we are super excited about those rights, and we are really comfortable. We have delivered on that target, and it is a really important one to driving the free cash flow and margin in our business. The team have done an excellent job this past year in terms of we have bought this new company with its content rights, and it has been a pretty low step-up. But you are right, we are looking to continue with that sort of target. We just have not put it out into the market. David, I do not know if there is any other detail you want to add.
Yeah. If you think about how we plan to monetize audiences and going into the future, the expectation will be able to do better than what we have done in regard to content cost as a percentage of revenue in the future.
Yeah. That is helpful. And maybe this last one. You have got a pretty healthy balance sheet, nearly NZD 80 million in net cash. You have sort of got the signaling of surplus capital will be returned to shareholders in dividends or buyback after the first half result. Of that NZD 80 million, how much do you think is surplus versus you want to maintain on the balance sheet to have a pretty strong cash position?
We do not have a specific perspective on that. But obviously, we are talking to all of our shareholders all the time around what we think the right level of capital for us to have in there. And I guess if we look at what is in front of us over the next little while, it is just pausing while we get through the election and the economic times that we are experiencing at the moment, and then to have a relook at that as we go into the finish of the first half.
And I think just to build, I do think that acknowledging though the board and management team's confidence in giving that 10% per annum progressive dividend growth from 2027 to 2029, and also paying quarterly is quite a shift, in this market. We think that is positive for shareholders. But as David said, we are really well-placed. We are very good at managing our cash in this business. But the board, as they have signaled, will figure it out at the half year if there is going to be a buyback at that time, or some other distribution of capital.
Yeah. Perfect. No, that is all from me. Thanks, and well done on a solid result, and good to see the dividend growth.
Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Rob Morrison from Craigs. Please go ahead.
Hey, good afternoon, guys. Congratulations to the team, and especially Sophie, for delivering on your NZD 0.30 per share plus dividend target.
Thank you.
Just starting off on the FY 2027 guidance. It kind of reads like you are assuming the economy will improve in the back half of 2027. Is that fair?
We are certainly hoping that that is going to be the case. I guess I wouldn't be making too bold a statement. But our perspective is that there is some signs that there is some improving confidence, but we do sense that there is a little bit of nervousness around the election in particular. And post that, we certainly hope to see some improvement, but we haven't specifically factored a perspective on that into our thought process.
Sorry. So the midpoint of guidance probably assumes the economy remains about as it is today over the year. Is that fair?
Correct. That is correct.
Cool. Okay. What are the assumptions around the top and the bottom end of guidance? What needs to happen for you to hit the top end? It looks like it reads like a lot of it is to do with Sky Free. Is that fair?
I think a lot of it is around that economy, which ultimately, at the upper end, you would think things would go a little better. On the lower end is kind of things perhaps get a little worse. That is the main driver. We know what we are doing around the Sky Free integration. We have made great progress there. Yes, there is more that we are doing. We have got a line of sight into what that looks like. The range that is there, it is more about how the economy plays out rather than anything else.
No, that is great. It is the economy. Okay. I want to ask a few questions about the free cash flow, because of course, that underpins the dividend, and you have given some pretty ambitious targets for dividend growth over the next few years. You have got this, I am sure it is on the slide there. You have got this NZD 59 million normalized free cash flow number you have delivered this year. Very strong number. But it kind of looks to me like maybe it was boosted by working capital. Can you give me the quantum of what that boost was and maybe what the normalized number is? Could it be around NZD 55 million, or is it worse than that?
No. The level of working capital related improvement in that free cash flow is relatively small. If you think about that in the context of sub NZD 5 million, that is probably the right sort of way to think about it. It is not a large number, but there is some working capital benefit that remains in there that may reduce a little bit in the first half of this year as we clear away some of the acquisition-related working capital. But it is not a significant number.
Okay. Because I am just trying to get at what a sustainable base of free cash flow is going forward. On one hand, it seems like you are saying that this NZD 59 million is a pretty sustainable base of free cash flow going forward. But then on the other hand, you have a payout ratio of 75%. If it is sustainable, why not pay pay a 35% dividend?
I think that the answer to your question is, that is what we are working towards, is this, and growing that free cash flow is our goal and our ambition. At the same time, we know that the world is an uncertain place, so in terms of and that is why the payout ratio is a range as well. Certainly, our ambition is to do better.
As you said, those are ambitious. It is an ambitious 10% per annum progressive dividend that we are talking about, which we think our shareholder base will appreciate. We would not be able to do that unless there is real confidence at a board level that free cash flow generation is there, notwithstanding working capital movement. Hopefully that gives you some comfort for your modeling.
Yeah. No, that is helpful. Thank you. Just in terms of the detail, because we kind of need to understand this to put it into our modeling. So you have NZD 59 million free cash flow this year, and then I think assuming flat shares, which it probably won't be, but let us say it is. To pay that NZD 0.43 per share dividend, you will need at least NZD 66 million at the top end of the range. So that is NZD 66 million minus NZD 59 million, NZD 7 million. So you are basically going for a NZD 7 million step up over the next few years, right? In free cash flow. Is almost all of that going to be revenue or and maybe lower CapEx? Could you break that down between all the drivers, please, broadly?
We are confident that we have got a pathway to improve our free cash flow. What that looks like over the next few years in terms of, we have talked about our ambition for revenue growth, our ambition for expanded margin, which says we are going to manage costs well. Then in the context of CapEx, what we plan to do, we can fit inside the window that we have talked about, and we have provided some guidance around the 6%-8% of revenue being lower than where it has been previously. There is no greater detail than what we have provided in that context.
Okay. It is important because they are ambitious revenue targets, so it is important to understand what is driving it. Within that revenue growth, are you, A, assuming that the core growth and the Sky Box customers, the revenue will stop going backwards, one, and B, are you assuming that the linear market for advertising will stop declining?
I think what is important is that we are growing our audiences, and we intend to monetize those audiences, and that monetization will flow over advertising, it will flow over subscription-based products. That will be the key element of how we will grow revenue. Whether it lands in linear or other is not a significant matter. It is how we reach our customers and our audiences.
If I just build, I think that we are anticipating, we really want to get as many of those Sky Box customers this year onto the new Sky experience. We see the benefits to turn our NPS. That is part of that, as you say, arresting the declines in the Sky Box base and therefore the revenues there. So that is an important part of it. Sky Sport Now continues to grow, as you know. We know that everyone is interested in Neon. I think we have shown that we have made some pretty good moves as we are reporting it the full year. I think that is the joy of our business, if I may say so, in that it is a balance of revenue opportunities that we have. But also, critically, we know how to manage our costs.
We are in a process now of optimizing our business post the integration. As you know, free cash flow is a combination of those. To David's point, yes, we are excited about the advertising opportunity. We talked about the opportunity, particularly in the digital video space. That is a big addressable market that we are keen to go after with our amazing content. We have a lot of different ways that we can invest once and monetize right across audiences in this country. There are multiple facets that go into thinking about where our revenue is heading too. We were talking about that significant growth by FY 2031, so a little bit further out. In terms of that free cash flow generation, FY 2027 to 2029, highly confident in our ability to drive margin even if the economy does not perform as well as everyone would like.
That is the joy of the acquisition, as it really does give us this ability to invest once and monetize right across the piece.
Okay, thank you. Final one from me. You just spoke to your confidence and ability to drive margin. I think, Sophie Moloney, when you were speaking to the press earlier, you alluded that, and correct me if I am wrong, a lot of that margin expansion is going to be driven by untangling that back end and getting some savings there. You have all these different systems now, Three, Sky, Neon, Sky Sport Now.
Yeah.
A, is that right? B, how long will it take to realize, and will there be meaningful CapEx associated with that?
You're right. It is about the disentanglement and simplifying what we do, removing some of that complexity and the cost that goes with that. That's a bit of a multi-year play, but as David shared, we're really comfortable that that will sit within our CapEx profile, in talking about that 6%-8%. I think, again, just to give confidence in that cash flow generation. But we are excited about that opportunity because it's actually going to make it easier for our team and partners to get the benefit of that broader audience.
Okay, cool. Thanks, guys, and congratulations again.
Thank you.
Thank you. Once again, to ask a question, please press star one. Your next question comes from Phil Campbell from UBS. Please go ahead.
Morning, everyone, just a few from me. Sophie, how do you think the HBO Max launch has gone? Obviously, they launched, I think it was the middle of June. It was quite a promotional pricing, and they had some pretty good content. Then obviously now they've changed their pricing. Still a little bit cheaper than Neon, but how do you think it's been going so far, and has it had any impact on your subscriber numbers on Neon post-balance date?
It probably is a question for them. We know they had a big launch, and they have some awesome content, no question about that. But we're really excited about what we've delivered in Neon. If you think we're at 215,000 subs at the half year, to be up to the 252 by the year-end. And we've got this multi-studio approach which enables us to We're going to steady a drumbeat of content, rather than being subject to supply from one significant studio. We know that they're still competing in market for advertising and marketing, and search in particular. But the team are feeling very good about the slate of content ahead. I'm not going to talk to numbers in the interim. We obviously report on that six-monthly basis.
But suffice to say, really happy with the entertainment strategy and what it's doing in terms of our margin.
Okay, awesome. The second one I had was just on the programming cost as a percentage of sales. Going forward, will you, a bit like today, will you break out what the Sky standalone programming costs are, so we can then check against that 47%-49%?
No. We are a combined group now. What we will do is obviously we will talk to that number, but it will be the group number, not Sky standalone.
Oh, okay. Will that ratio change then?
A little bit, but at the end of the day, that business has content as well, and obviously there is content that flows across all of those platforms, including the free and paid, and it is an overall picture, and the numbers do not change wildly as a percentage.
Oh, okay. Awesome. Sophie, just on that slide you had, I think on page five, where you have got your kind of scorecard.
Yeah.
-and you had a red dot against the customer NPS. But obviously it still improved. But what is the kind of main thing do you think that why you didn't get to your 2026 target on that score?
Well, it is a combined view across all of our products. There is a weighting towards Sky Box, and we just didn't get enough customers, in my view, onto the new Sky experience. And we are going to ensure that we shift that. That 41% attachment is good, but it needs to be higher, and I think that will be influential in where that net promoter score gets to. The good thing is we talk about this all the time. It is a really important lead indicator for our business. People advocating for you is pretty. Word of mouth advertising like that is what we want to go after. So that is my view of why we didn't quite get there. But the team are very alive to it, so I know it is going to improve.
Okay, awesome. So I am assuming the NPS on the new Sky Box is higher than the old one?
Yes, it is. It is a much better experience in terms of accessing our huge array of content. So, we just need to make sure we get out there and inform our customers what it is like. Even my mom now has it, and she is thrilled about how much sport highlights she is watching. So, yeah, much opportunity ahead.
David, can you talk a little bit about, looks as though there was a change in accounting policy on the amortization of content again. Can you just run us through what was happening there?
Relatively small compared to the prior year. But the key change was around a genre-based amortization policy rather than a platform-based. It aligns more closely with what is the general practice around the world. As we went through the process of the acquisition and thinking about that, it was a good time to make that change, which as I said, aligns more closely with what is the typical practice across the world.
Okay. Awesome. Then maybe just the last one for Sophie, just in terms of pricing in the current environment, price increases. I suppose one of the things we're noticing in the Australian mobile market is that they've had a period of kind of putting up their prices quite a lot, and you're kind of seeing a little bit of a pricing fatigue maybe at the pay monthly side in Australia. I was just wondering, like in New Zealand, because obviously you do kind of annually put up prices. Is there any kind of change you're noticing here in terms of maybe some kind of pricing fatigue from the consumer, or is it pretty okay?
Yeah. We will consider it again. You may appreciate as well that we haven't put up price on the entertainment side. Yes, we do in Sky Broadband. That follows the market on an annual basis. Then we look at our sport because we do think that the sport offer is incredibly compelling. So at this juncture, no, we haven't seen that. Of course, people don't necessarily relish it, but they also understand the price of goods and services going up. I think a really interesting. What I would say is people do seem to want flexibility. So we have our NZD 29.99 day pass on Sky Sport Now. I've kind of been blown away about how many people have enjoyed the benefit of that transactional pass. You'd only need a couple of those to do the monthly, but people are preferring the flexibility.
That may well be people in flat sharing it to watch a game. That has been a really interesting observation over the last year or so. People not necessarily wanting to even commit for the month, but being happy to pay a lot more for a day pass, and we are totally comfortable if that is the way they want to consume.
Great. Just the last one from me on the dividend. Just looking in the annual report, it does look like you have got quite a large imputation balance. I am assuming, have not done the numbers, but I am assuming you probably could impute those 2027, 2028, and 2029 dividends going forward.
Correct. Yes. As you rightly point out, we have got a healthy imputation credit balance, which we can attach to dividends in the future.
Yep. I think it is like NZD 190 million or something, is not it? It is quite large.
That is right.
Yep. Good one. Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I will now hand the conference back to Sophie Moloney for any closing remarks.
Thank you very much. Look, thanks to everyone who has participated in today's call. We really appreciate your interest and your support. We look forward to catching up with many of you in the coming days. It really is an exciting time to be at Team Sky. I am grateful for the incredible amounts of hard work of the team, from the support of our awesome board, and we are really excited to keep delivering for all of our shareholders. Thank you.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.