KEY POINTS:
First NZ Capital has downgraded New Zealand pay-television operator Sky Network Television to underperform from neutral after a sharp increase in its share price.
First NZ Capital said in a research note Sky TV's share price had increased 14.8 per cent since March 28, compared with a 1.8 per cent increase in the benchmark NSX-50 index.
The brokerage has a target price of $6.15 for Sky TV.
A top-10 ranked company, Sky TV's shares were down 5c at $6.20 on Friday, having traded between $5.15 and $6.55 over the past year.
Sky TV, which is 44 per cent owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, has a near monopoly on pay-TV services in New Zealand. It offers more than 70 television and radio channels from the Cartoon Network to the Playboy Channel.
It also has a small free-to-air channel and competes against state-owned TVNZ's two channels and CanWest Mediaworks' TV3 and C4 networks.
In February Sky reported a 23 per cent rise in profit for the six months to December to $36.5 million, but also cut its full-year profit forecast by as much as 17 per cent.
- REUTERS
