Virgin results smash all expectations
Virgin Media posted expectation beating results yesterday as earnings soared 15 per cent to £366m.
Total revenue rose 3.3 per cent to £980m, driven by 6.1 per cent growth in its cable business.
The firm added a staggering 40,600 new subscribers to its services and the average customer spent 5.8 per cent more than in the same period in 2008, adding 228,900 new products. The three-fold increase in new subscribers compared to the year before is the steepest since Virgin Media was formed in the wake of the merger between NTL and Telewest in 2006. It now provides services to 4.77m customers.
The company narrowed its overall losses, caused by depreciation of its networks, and expects to swing into net profit by 2011.
The results coincided with the announcement that Virgin will soon begin to roll out the UK’s fastest broadband service. It vowed to begin offering internet speeds of 100Mb by the end of the year. The firm pointed to a 45 per cent increase in subscribers to its 20Mb internet service as proof customers are demanding cutting edge internet technology.
Neil Berkett, chief executive of Virgin Media, said: “In the fourth quarter, we successfully grew both the size and quality of our customer base.
“New and existing customers bought more, higher value products. This demand underpinned growth across all our product lines.”