TalkTalk Telecom Fiscal Year Pretax Profit Rises, Wins Back Customers

LONDON-- TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC (TALK.LN) Wednesday said customer numbers have returned to growth as it reported a rise in full year pretax profit.

The smaller rival to U.K. telecommunications and TV giants BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) and Sky PLC (SKY.LN), posted a pretax profit of 70 million pounds ($91 million) for the year ended March 31, compared with a pretax profit of GBP14 million the previous year, on revenue down to GBP1.78 billion from GBP1.84 billion.

TalkTalk said revenue fell due to customers leaving, but pretax profit was boosted by the absence of charges related to a cyber attack the previous year.

The final dividend falls to 5 pence from 10.58 pence as the company invests money in pursuit of revenue growth. The company expects to declare an interim cash dividend of 2.5 pence for this financial year, down from 5.29 pence last year and a final cash dividend of 5 pence in line with last year. It said it hopes to return to dividend growth in 2018.

-Write to Rory Gallivan at [e-mail]; Twitter: @RoryGallivan

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 10, 2017 03:05 ET (07:05 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.