Juliette Garside 

TalkTalk pay-TV subscribers top 1.1m

Broadband company adds further 185,000 to budget television service as revenues grow 3%
  
  

pay-tv talktalk
TalkTalk has become the fastest-growing UK pay-TV operator. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

TalkTalk has switched 1.1 million customers on to its budget pay-TV service, adding 185,000 in the most recent quarter.

The broadband company, which relaunched its TV offering with a Youview box in summer 2013 and is now the fastest-growing pay-TV provider, increased revenues by more than 3% to £434m in the June quarter, compared with the same period last year.

The chief executive, Dido Harding, whose long-term incentive scheme has just boosted her earnings to £6.8m, said TalkTalk was on track for 4% revenue growth during 2015.

She expects to expand TV subscribers by a similar number to the 680,000 added during the most recent financial year.

TalkTalk brought in a modest 10,000 broadband customers during the June quarter, bringing the total to 4.2 million. A further 24,000 signed up for mobile phone deals, and 34,000 more opted for fibre broadband, giving 241,000 fibre customers.

However, the average monthly revenue per customer was flat year on year, falling slightly on the previous quarter to £26.36.

"We had expected to see more support from the increasing penetration of additional services such as TV, mobile and fibre," analysts at Espirito Santo bank said in a note.

The company announced a new multi-year deal with Sky, extending access to the satellite broadcaster's movies and sport. TalkTalk customers will have catch-up content from Sky Movies and Sky Sports, and will be able to view the Sky Sports 5 channel which launches in August and will focus on European football, including the forthcoming Uefa Champions League.

"We expect revenue growth to again, build through the year and we are on track to deliver our FY15 revenue and margin guidance, and medium-term financial targets," said Harding.

TalkTalk expects to grow its full-year dividend by no less than 15%. The firm's shares opened higher and rose 0.78% to 322p.

 

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