TALK.L Share News (TALK)

(Sharecast News) - Telecoms operator TalkTalk upgraded full year earnings guidance after seeing trading recover in June and July as Covid-19 lockdown measures eased.
The company on Tuesday said it expected 2021 headline core earnings to be stable or to grow, better than analyst forecasts and above the firm's previous forecast of flat.

First quarter headline revenue was £358m, down from £387m a year ago.

TalkTalk said its expected full-year impact of £15m from the coronavirus lockdown "remains conservative based on current bad debt trends in both our consumer and business-to-business markets".

The nationwide Covid-19 lockdown hit the sector in terms of customer numbers and the cancellation of sporting events as viewers unsubscribed from sports TV packages.

The company's trading update showed a sharp fall in the number of new fibre broadband customers it added on a net basis - at 67,000 in its first quarter against 118,000 a year earlier.

Chief executive Tristia Harrison said: "As with many businesses, we have seen a short-term Covid-19 impact, primarily due to lockdown trading restrictions and cancellation of live sports.

"Revenue, fibre net adds and ARPU (average revenue per user) trends have all improved in June and July as lockdown restrictions have eased.

"Encouragingly, customer payment trends are in line with the pre-Covid-19 period."