British Sky Broadcasting has passed the peak of its investment in broadband, its new chief executive said as he expressed confidence in the satellite group’s ability to weather a tougher economic climate. A £103m investment in broadband and telephony, coupled with the high costs of its new Barclays Premier League football rights contract, cut operating profits from £395m to £295m in the first half of the financial year.

Its shares rose 7 per cent or 38p to 577p, however, after Jeremy Darroch, who succeeded James Murdoch in December, announced that it had reduced its “churn” to a better-than-expected 10 per cent in the three months to December 31.