United Kingdom telephone and broadband provider TalkTalk has seen its profits drop to £14 million, from £32 million the previous year, following a high profile attack last October, which cost the company £35 million. In total, since the breach, 101,000 subscribers had switched to another network.
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Despite the attack, TalkTalk managed to grow revenues from £1.79 billion to £1.83 billion. 90,000 customers joined the company’s mobile services, while 72,000 singed a broadband contract.
The surge in exceptional items, which offset a slight increase revenue from £1.80bn to £1.83bn, was largely attributed to a £42bn related to the cyberattack the telephone provider suffered in October 2015 and restructuring costs.
Harding, CEO of TalkTalk, said: “We recorded our lowest ever churn and stabilised the broadband base, testimony to the speed with which customer sentiment towards TalkTalk has recovered, the success of our greater focus on existing customers, and the growing benefits of our simplification programme”.
The group added that its business-focused arm, TalkTalk Business, which accounts for almost a third of revenues, increased turnover by 5% in the year.
The company said it had its lowest quarterly customer turnover in the fourth quarter, of 1.3%.
TalkTalk’s profits plunged by 56 per cent during 2016 to a mere £14m, but chief exec Dido Harding claimed the company “bounced back strongly in the final quarter”.
The company has also declared a 15% higher dividend for the year. “Our learnings from, and experience since, the cyber attack have helped to focus our plans”.
TalkTalk maintained its guidance for underlying earnings in the 2017 financial year of £320m-£360m.
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Thousands of TalkTalk customer details were compromised last October in a cyber attack.
