TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC (LON: TALK) have announced that they had swung to an interim profit following an announcement on Friday morning.
TalkTalk seemed optimistic about the published results and maintained their guidance for financial 2019.
Despite the positive results, shares of TalkTalk dipped 3.6% to 105p. 15/11/19 11:47BST.
In a time where the telecoms industry is volatile and surprising, rivals have had mixed experiences.
Vodafone (LON: VOD) have reported a second half loss in their most recent update which has seen their shares crash in a similar manner to Deutsche Telekom (ETR: DTE) who cut their dividends earlier this week.
Additionally, BT (LON: BT.A) hit Friday headlines as Labour vowed to nationalize the firm as one of their election policies.
In the six months to September 30, revenue fell 3.6% to £792 million from £822 million last year, whilst a pretax profit of £1 million was reported from a £4 million loss last year.
Headline earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation climbed 39% to £140 million from £115 million.
TalkTalk said: “Headline Ebitda outlook for the year remains unchanged, with increased Fibre penetration and headquarter move efficiencies driving a materially lower cost base.”
TalkTalk moved its headquarters to Salford, Greater Manchester, from London, a moved which delivered £7 million in first half cost savings.
Looking to the second period, the FTSE 250 (INDEXFTSE: MCX) firm expects a further £10 million in savings.
Chief Executive Tristia Harrison said: “We’re pleased that our clear strategy to accelerate customer growth in Fibre broadband while also reducing costs has led to a significant increase in profitability in the first half.
“We now have over two million customers taking a Fibre product, adding nearly 300,000 customers in the half.”
TalkTalk also reported that they were close to formalizing a deal to sell its Fibrenation sister company to Cityfibre.
Shareholders should remain optimistic about TalkTalk, considering the tough market conditions and the similar experiences of rivals.
In the longer term, there is an expectation that TalkTalk can produce positive results once economic and political uncertainties are removed.
