TalkTalk's customer base grows despite revenue fall

TalkTalk Telecom Group on Thursday said its customer base returned to growth for the first time in three years during the third quarter despite a fall in total revenues.

The FTSE 250 firm, which provides pay television, telecommunications and internet access services, posted £415m in total revenues, down from £422m the previous year, driven by an ongoing fall in off-net trading.

However, on-net revenues were up 5.8% year-on-year to £292m and corporate revenues grew 1.3% to £80m. The group's On-net average revenue per user climbed 1.7% to 325.47.

The company saw an upsurge in clients including 80,000 TV subscribers along with an additional 35,000 new mobile customers and 22,000 fibre consumers. The total broadband customer base also increased by 10,000 during the quarter.

"We have returned our total customer base to growth for the first time in three years - an important milestone on our journey to become a growing and more profitable business," Chief Executive Dido Harding said.

"We successfully launched TV and mobile handsets this summer and the growth in take-up by both existing and new customers underlines the scale of opportunity we see in these additional products.

"With good trading momentum across the business, we have entered the final quarter strongly focused on execution. We are confident of delivering full-year results in line with our guidance, and are making real progress towards our medium term targets of 2% revenue growth and 25% [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] margin."

Shares fell 2.45% to 1,077.50p at 08:30 Tuesday.

RD