(Telecompaper) Sky reported revenues of GBP 5.72 billion in its fiscal first half to the end of December, up 5 percent compared to a year earlier, thanks above all to a surge of customers in the UK and Ireland. Operating profit rose by 12 percent to GBP 747 million, its best-ever first-half result, with EBITDA climbing 8 percent to GBP 1.05 billion. Sky had 21.48 million retail customers at the end of December, up by 337,000 in a quarter and by 887,000 in a year. Paid-for products grew to 55.87 million, up from 51.95 million a year earlier, with the group adding 1.1 million in the three months to December. Sky also announced that Nicholas Ferguson is to step down as the company's chairman and as a director after 12 years on the board, with Rupert Murdoch's son, James Murdoch, to return for a second stint as chairman. Murdoch was CEO and then chairman from 2003 to 2012 but resigned from the then BSkyB following a phone-hacking scandal.