Telecom Plus said customer growth accelerated sharply in the opening months of its new five-year plan, with the Utility Warehouse owner adding multiservice customers at more than 2.5 times last year’s rate.
In a trading update released on Monday, the company that trades under the name ‘Utility Warehouse’ said annualised growth in multiservice customers over the first four months of its financial year was running slightly ahead of its 10% full-year target, well up on the 3.9% achieved in the prior year.
Its network of self-employed Partners, who sell its bundled household services, was at record activity levels, with monthly active Partners averaging around 4,900 and total Partners exceeding 85,000.
The group, which bundles energy, broadband, mobile and insurance into a single subscription, said it had cross-sold about 17,000 additional services so far, keeping it on track for a 50,000 target this year, and that it remained on course to launch motor insurance in the second half.
Chairman, Charles Wigoder, said: “We have made an encouraging start to FY27, with early momentum from our new five-year plan clearly visible across the business. Multiservice customer growth is tracking ahead of our FY27 target, driven by the initial investments we have made in our customer proposition and the resulting strong performance of our Partner network, where both activity and recruitment are running at record levels.”
Telecom Plus reiterated full-year guidance for adjusted pre-tax profit of £80m to £90m, though it noted profit would be more heavily weighted to the second half than usual.
On shareholder returns, Telecom Plus confirmed a 12p final dividend and said it had bought back about 2.44 million shares under its £40m programme, with £20m still to deploy. It will set out its interim dividend and an expected extension of the buyback alongside half-year results in November.