Telewest: Digital Take-Up On Target, Turnover Up Ahead Of Expectations

Telewest Communications appears to have put a difficult summer behind it and released third quarter results yesterday which exceeded the market’s expectations. Turnover was reported to have risen by 41.2% to £814m, compared to £576m for the same period last year. Meanwhile earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 9% to £180m, up from £165m in 1999.

“Telewest is back on track to reap the benefits of the digital age.” promised Adam Singer, chief executive. Following the resolution of the set-top box supply problems (see Telewest To Resume Marketing After Set-Top Box Crisis) Telewest has counted sales of its Active Digital service to date of 315,000. “We are confident we will reach our revised target of 500,000 digital sales by the end of the first quarter of next year.” said Singer.

One area that did not see improvement, however, was cable television churn rate, which has grown from 27.1% to 28.7%. There are no 1999 figures to compare for digital services, but the churn rate as at 30 September 2000 was 14.5%. Nevertheless, the price of Telewest shares jumped by over 6% in response to the release of results yesterday (see Sharewatch).

Telewest Communications: 01483 750 900

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