LONDON (dpa-AFX) - TalkTalk Telecom Group plc (TALK.L) Wednesday reported that its first-half loss before tax was 75 million pounds, compared to profit of 30 million pounds last year. Loss per share was 7.5 pence, compared to profit of 2.2 pence a year ago.
Operating loss was 42 million pounds, compared to profit of 44 million pounds a year ago. EBITDA plunged to 29 million pounds from prior year's 119 million pounds.
Revenue dropped to 856 million pounds from 902 million pounds last year. Headline revenue dropped 1.8% excluding Carrier.
On-net revenue growth of 1.3% and Data growth of +5.1% were offset by declines in off-net of 58% and legacy voice of 9.4%, broadly in line with previous periods.
Further, the Board has declared an interim dividend of 2.50p, sharply lower than last year's 5.29p.
Looking ahead, the company said it now expects FY18 Headline EBITDA to be towards the lower end of guidance range, and will enter FY19 with a materially higher quality, lower churning and larger customer base.
'We see continuing strong demand for our competitively priced propositions for consumers and businesses and an opportunity to step up H2 investment in driving materially higher base growth, continued re-contracting activity, and further fibre take-up,' the company said.
Separately, the Company announced that Nigel Langstaff will join the Board as an independent Non-Executive Director with immediate effect.
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