Telecom Plus upbeat after strong fourth quarter

4th Apr 2014 07:30

Utility services group Telecom Plus said it is confident of meeting forecasts with its annual results after a strong final quarter ended March 31st.The company said that despite reduced levels of energy consumption by customers during an exceptionally warm winter, profitability for the year remains in line with consensus estimates. Ahead of its full-year results due May 21st, analysts have pencilled in a pre-tax profit of around £42m, up from £34.6m previously.Telecom Plus still expects to recommend a final dividend of 19p per share, taking the total payout for the year to 35p, up from 31p the year before.Since launching a new bundled tariff structure in November, the proportion of new members taking all five of its core services - gas, electricity, landline, broadband and mobile - has "increased significantly" to more than 20%. Meanwhile, the proportion taking mobile services has risen to above 35%."These encouraging metrics support our continuing focus on improving customer quality and reducing churn," the company said.The group also said it has seen an "extremely positive initial reaction" to the new package of marketing tools, designed to help distributors build their businesses more effectively. These included a new customer film, a simplified online application and a new app. This has resulted in a record number of new distributors, which should have a positive impact on customer growth over the coming year."The recent significant increase in the number of distributors joining the business, combined with the new tools we have just introduced, have the potential to materially accelerate our current growth rate and substantially increase our market share over the next few years," said Chief Executive Andrew Lindsay.BC