18th Jun 2024 09:47
(Alliance News) - Telecom Plus PLC on Tuesday reported a strong rise in annual profit, despite lower revenue due to falling energy prices, benefiting from a rise in customer numbers past one million.
London-based Telecom Plus provides bundled household utility services - including energy, broadband and mobile telecommunications, and insurance - under the Utility Warehouse brand.
Shares were up 0.6% at 1,886.00 pence early Tuesday in London.
Pretax profit in the financial year that ended March 31 was GBP100.5 million, up 18% from GBP85.5 million the year before.
Adjusted pretax profit was GBP116.9 million, up 22% from GBP96.2 million, with Telecom Plus saying this was slightly above market expectations.
Revenue dropped by 18% to GBP2.04 billion from GBP2.48 billion, amid "normalised" energy prices, but gross profit rose 16% to GBP355.2 million from GBP306.2 million as cost of sales fell by 22% to GBP1.68 billion from GBP2.17 billion.
"We are now back in a normalised energy market, with rational competition returning and robust regulation ensuring all suppliers are operating sustainably," commented co-chief executive officers Stuart Burnett and Andrew Lindsay.
"Falling wholesale energy prices throughout the year resulted in the Ofgem [standard variable tariff] price cap reducing from Q2 onwards, providing some relief for households," they continued. "It is testament to the strength of our multi-service model that, despite these falling prices, we were able to deliver a 14.1% increase in customer numbers and a commensurate increase in profits, demonstrating the ability of our business model to deliver in all environments."
Telecom Plus previously had said that Lindsay will step down and Burnett will become sole CEO from the company's annual general meeting in August.
Telecom Plus declared a final dividend of 47p per share, up 2.2% from 46p a year before. This makes for a full-year payout of 83p, up 3.8% from 80p.
Looking ahead to financial 2025, Telecom Plus anticipates adjusted pretax profit of GBP124 million to GBP128 million, which would be up at least 6% from financial 2024. It also guided 12% to 14% organic net customer growth, in line with growth in the past year.
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor
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