Telecom Plus full-year profits beat expectations

(Sharecast News) - Telecom Plus posted better-than-expected full-year pre-tax profit on Tuesday as customer and service numbers continued to grow. In the year to the end of March 2024, adjusted pre-tax profit rose 21.5% to £116.9m, coming in above market expectations of £96.2m. The company, which trades as Utility Warehouse, hailed customer growth of 14.1% to just over 1 million, while service numbers increased by 328,949 to just over 3.1m.

There was also a "modest" tailwind from higher energy prices in the first quarter compared with the remainder of FY24.

However, revenue declined to £2.04bn from £2.48bn the year before, as the Ofgem energy price cap averaged £2,140, down from £3,100 in 2023.

Telecom Plus said that with its recent strong rate of customer growth continuing into FY25, it is confident of delivering organic net customer growth of between 12% and 14% in FY25. Meanwhile, adjusted pre-tax profit is expected to be between £124m and £128m.

Chief executive Stuart Burnett said: "We are delighted to have delivered another year of record customer numbers, record profits and record returns to shareholders - all through helping households to stop wasting time and money.

"With the business in such good health, and having passed through the 1 million customer milestone, our current rate of growth places us firmly on track to double the size of the business to two million customers over the medium term, with a commensurate increase in profitability and shareholder returns."