Ben
14th November 2005, 12:22 PM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4434530.stm
Mobile phone group O2 has unveiled a rise in profits, driven by a strong climb in customer numbers.
The firm reported pre-tax profits for the six months to 30 September of £357m ($625m), up from £339m during the same period last year.
Customer numbers rose 17% to 25.7 million across the group, led by growth of 34% in its German customer base.
The results come two weeks after the firm agreed to a £17.7bn ($31.2bn) takeover offer from Spain's Telefonica.
New contracts
Chief executive Peter Erskine welcomed the group's strong performance given "intense competition in all our markets".
"All our mobile businesses delivered strong, high quality customer growth in the first half," he added.
However, despite signing up more new customers, average revenue per user (ARPU) was flat in the UK at £271, while it slipped by 7 euros in Germany as a result of customer promotions.
Meanwhile the group's Airwave unit - which offers communications services - secured new contracts with the English Ambulance Trust and the National Fallback Service, as well as recently being named preferred bidder for the nationwide Fire and Rescue service.
The new deals boosted revenues at the unit to £103m from £79m last time, while operating profits jumped to £9m from £2m.
Overall, the strong showing helped the company beat analyst forecasts for revenues and earnings per share.
Revenues surged 12% to £3.62bn compared to forecasts of £3.26bn to £3.61bn while earnings per share came in at a better than expected 5.4 pence for the six month period.
Mobile phone group O2 has unveiled a rise in profits, driven by a strong climb in customer numbers.
The firm reported pre-tax profits for the six months to 30 September of £357m ($625m), up from £339m during the same period last year.
Customer numbers rose 17% to 25.7 million across the group, led by growth of 34% in its German customer base.
The results come two weeks after the firm agreed to a £17.7bn ($31.2bn) takeover offer from Spain's Telefonica.
New contracts
Chief executive Peter Erskine welcomed the group's strong performance given "intense competition in all our markets".
"All our mobile businesses delivered strong, high quality customer growth in the first half," he added.
However, despite signing up more new customers, average revenue per user (ARPU) was flat in the UK at £271, while it slipped by 7 euros in Germany as a result of customer promotions.
Meanwhile the group's Airwave unit - which offers communications services - secured new contracts with the English Ambulance Trust and the National Fallback Service, as well as recently being named preferred bidder for the nationwide Fire and Rescue service.
The new deals boosted revenues at the unit to £103m from £79m last time, while operating profits jumped to £9m from £2m.
Overall, the strong showing helped the company beat analyst forecasts for revenues and earnings per share.
Revenues surged 12% to £3.62bn compared to forecasts of £3.26bn to £3.61bn while earnings per share came in at a better than expected 5.4 pence for the six month period.