Telecom Plus Regulatory News (TEP)

23 Nov 2005 14:46

Telecom Plus PLC23 November 2005 This announcement replaces the Trading Statement announcement released on Wednesday 23 November 2005 at 13.57 under RNS no 5695U. An amendment has been made to the final sentence. The full announcement text appears below. Telecom plus plc ("the Company") Trading Statement In the preliminary results announcement issued on 10 June 2005, the Companystated that it anticipated profits for the current year to 31 March 2006 wouldbe slightly lower compared with last year, due to the continuing impact oflosses within its gas supply business and increased customer acquisition costs. The Company continues to expect a significant increase in turnover during thecurrent year as both its customer base and the number of services taken by eachcustomer continue to grow, however over recent days the wholesale price of gas(both day-ahead as well as for the coming four winter months) has becomeincreasingly volatile and reached unprecedented highs, with the result that fullyear profits to 31 March 2006 are now expected to be substantially lower thanlast year. We have recently concluded a long term working capital facility with BarclaysBank plc, enabling us to implement a systematic hedging programme which willprogressively align our wholesale energy costs with those of our maincompetitors. We continue however to purchase the majority of our gas for thiswinter on a short-term basis, as the price demanded for medium term purchasesmakes it commercially unattractive to hedge at present. The Company intends to announce its interim results for the six months ended 30September 2005 on Tuesday 13 December 2005. The Directors anticipate that thepre-tax profits for this period will be in excess of £5million but the finaloutcome for the full year remains uncertain as it will be dependant on thelevels of wholesale gas prices for the rest of this winter. 23 November 2005 END This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange