Fibre sign-ups drive revenue growth at TalkTalk

Increased take-up of fibre services drove higher revenue at TalkTalk in the first quarter, the company has said.

Total revenue was up 1.3% to £387 million in the three months to June 30.

Meanwhile, year-on-year average revenue per user (ARPU) reached £24.72, compared to £24.65 this time a year ago.

Tristia Harrison, chief executive of TalkTalk, said the rise was down to customers opting for the faster fibre packages.

“Revenue and Consumer ARPU rose year on year, underpinned by very strong demand for faster, more reliable fibre products,” she said.

“Up to 75% of new consumer customers are now taking fibre and we’re seeing more customers than ever choose the faster of our fibre products.”

There were 118,000 new fibre sign-ups in the period, compared with 67,000 this time last year.

The group confirmed it was on track to deliver on its full-year expectations, including ongoing cost reductions.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “For a company with such a troubled history as TalkTalk, saying that earnings guidance is unchanged is cracking news for its shareholders.

“They can breathe a sigh of relief that there aren’t new problems to depress the share price and that the business is getting on with the day job.”

Although customer churn rate remained low at 1.29%, this exceeded consensus forecasts of 1.23%.

Analysts at Jefferies put this down to the announcement in May of the company’s biggest out-of-contract price increases in its history.

Separately, the company announced that non-executive directors John Allwood and Cath Keers would step down with immediate effect.