LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Low-cost multi-utility retailer Telecom Plus - which trades under the brand name Utility Warehouse - announced its final results for the year to 31 March on Tuesday, confirming its results and the dividend were in line with expectations.
The FTSE 250 company said its revenue was down 0.6% to £740.3m due to lower energy prices, although its adjusted profit before tax on continuing operations was up 9.1% to £53.3m.

Statutory profit before tax from continuing operations was up 16.5% to £40.9m.

Adjusted earnings per share were up 7.2% to 53.3p, while statutory earnings per share rose 15.9% to 38.0p.

The company's full year dividend was 4.3% higher 48p per share.

Telecom Plus' board said the sale of the Opus shareholding generated £62.3m in exceptional profit, and a £25m tender offer had been announced.

On the operational front, the board said there was further organic growth in both members and services, with the company now boasting over 600,000 members and service numbers up by 4.9% to 2.3 million.

It said the launch of home insurance had been 'encouraging', and added that more than 1.7 million LED bulbs had been provided and installed free of charge in over 40,000 households throughout the UK.

The company also highlighted its winning of the Which? 2017 Best Telecom Services Provider Award.

"I am pleased that against a challenging market backdrop, we have achieved our 20th consecutive year of organic growth in both our membership base and the number of services we supply," said chief executive Andrew Lindsay.

"Almost one in five members are now taking all our services, which underpins the long-term sustainability of our business model by reducing churn and improving our quality of earnings."

Lindsay said that winning the Which? 2017 Annual Award for 'Best Telecom Services Provider' was a "strong endorsement" of the company's personal approach to looking after its members, adding that the board could not have achieved that without the "hard work and dedication" of its UK-based customer service team.

"Whilst retail energy prices remain at the centre of political debate, our wholesale arrangements and retail pricing structure will help to shelter us from the impact of the proposed price cap, compared with other major suppliers.

"In the meantime, we expect to continue growing our customer base over the coming year, with a target increase of 5-10% in the number of services we supply, and a further increase in our dividend."

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