Ann: FY2022 Full Year Results, page-13

No I don't think so.

For a few reasons:

1. The method they are choosing means that the capital is returned to shareholders much faster than a buyback. They estimate cash returned by the end of November. Looking at trading volumes, a $70M buyback would take forever. And I am led to believe that they can only buy back 5% of shares a year anyway so would not be able to distribute $70M using that method anyway.
2. As the SP continues upwards, buybacks are less and less attractive than when the SP was lower.
3. The pro-rata tax free payment gives shareholders the most flexibility. Once they receive their cash, if Sky's market cap looks attractive then they can always use the cash to buy more shares (and therefore increase their % ownership as would happen in an on market buyback scenario if the shareholder sat tight and didn't sell any shares). Or if the market cap is too high at the point to meet the shareholders investment hurdle, the cash they receive could be used for something else. Either way, the shareholder has maximum flexibilty this way.