INL board confident SkyTV merger on track

Independent Newspapers says a proposal to merge with Sky Network Television is "continuing positively" and is expected to be completed by the middle of next year.

INL - which has a 78 per cent stake in Sky TV - made the statement as it reported that less cash to invest had slashed its half-year profit by a fifth.

It reported an after-tax profit of $33.4 million from $43 million for the same period last year.

Apart from the Sky TV stake, the company has $284 million in cash left from the sale of its newspaper operations. It has paid out $340 million to shareholders in a capital return since the half year to December 2003.

A jump in dividend to 11c a share, from 6.4c, gave shareholders something to celebrate.

The increase largely reflected INL's share of a windfall from Sky TV, which this week said it would pay out its entire interim profit in a 12.5c a share dividend. The rest came from investment income.

Executive chairman Ken Cowley said the focus of the INL board and management during the period was the merger proposal.

The INL dividend will be paid on March 18.