8th Oct 2013 08:12
LONDON (Alliance News) - Telecom Plus, the utility supplier that trades under the Utility Warehouse brand, Tuesday said the strong growth in customer and service numbers that it saw in its fiscal first quarter had accelerated in the second quarter, with customer numbers up 17% and the number of services provided up 24% with large numbers of new clients taking at least four of its services.
The company said it added 20,536 customers in the three months to end-September, while the number of services it provides was up 101,447. That meant it added 33,908 customers over the first half of the year, compared with 22,657 a year earlier, and service numbers were 165,714 up from 107,722.
It now has a total customer base of 494,940, with over 55% of new customers taking at least four of its services.
It predicted that it would post a modest rise in first-half pretax profit and earnings per share even though costs are up due to its growth and new regulation. It said it would raise its interim dividend over 20% to 16 pence a share.
"The board remains comfortable, subject to unforeseen circumstances, with consensus market expectations, and look forward to reporting record figures for turnover, profits, earnings and dividends for the full year in due course," Telecom Plus said in a statement.
Utility Warehouse doesn't advertise, relying on word of mouth and on-selling by current customers. It regularly scores very highly on surveys of customer satisfaction.
Telecom Plus shares were up 5.7% at 1,310p Tuesday morning, one of the biggest rises on the FTSE 250.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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