By Tapan Panchal
(Adds background, CEO statement, analyst comments, updates
throughout.)
LONDON--TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC (TALK.LN) said Thursday it
now has over 1 million TV customers, boosting its fiscal 2014
revenue by 3.4%, and it expects similar revenue growth for the next
year.
"We have built a TV business with over one million customers in
just 18 months - a quarter of our total customer base," Chief
Executive Dido Harding said, adding that the company expects all of
its all of its customers to eventually take the YouView TV.
TalkTalk, which provides television, mobile and internet
services in the U.K., said it added 687,000 customers to its
YouView TV base in the year ended March 31. The company expects to
add a similar number of TV customers in fiscal 2015.
For fiscal 2014, the company reported a slight rise in total
revenue to 1.72 billion pounds ($2.89 billion), from GBP1.67
billion a year earlier, while pretax profit fell to GBP31 million,
from GBP122 million, partly due to increased investments in the
business.
TalkTalk, which was demerged from Carphone Warehouse (CPW.LN) in
2010, added that revenue for fiscal 2015 is expected to grow at
least 4% and it remains confident of achieving at least 15%
dividend growth. The company said it remains on track to achieve
its previous set revenue and margin targets by fiscal 2017.
The FTSE 250-listed firm declared a final dividend of 8.0 pence
per share, making a total dividend for fiscal 2014 of 12.0 pence,
up 15% from 10.4 pence paid a year earlier.
Barclays' European telecom analysts said the company's fiscal
2014 result demonstrated clear progress toward its medium-term
goals and that the fiscal 2015 targets are in line with Barclays'
estimates.
Barclays has kept its estimates broadly unchanged and rates the
company 'Overweight' with a 350 pence price target.
TalkTalk shares at 1038 GMT were up 1 pence, or 0.21%, at 292
pence, valuing the firm at GBP2.78 billion.
Write to Tapan Panchal at tapan.panchal@wsj.com
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