Company Announcements

Trading Update and Notice of Results

"Comfortably on track to double the size of our high quality base"

Telecom Plus PLC (trading as Utility Warehouse or UW), which supplies a wide range of utility services focussed on domestic customers, today issues a trading update for the six-month period ending 30 September 2023.

Continued double-digit annualised customer growth in a stable market

Over 62,500 additional households switched to UW in the first 6 months of FY24, representing an annualised growth rate of over 14%. With 949,180 households now taking their services from UW, we are comfortably on track to double the size of our high quality base over the medium term, and expect to pass the one million customer milestone during the current financial year. 

The number of services we supply to our customers increased by 170,698 during the period, to a total of 2,968,846, reflecting continued strong multiservice take up amongst new customers seeking to maximise the savings that they can make on their household bills. 

As stability has returned to the energy retail markets after two years of 'crisis', the business is continuing to perform strongly, demonstrating its ability to outcompete and grow rapidly in a normalised environment: our enduring multiservice cost advantage enables us to sustainably and profitably offer home owners some of the lowest priced services across the energy, broadband, mobile and insurance markets. 

Deepening our long-term relationship with E.ON

We are pleased to have updated our existing long-term energy supply contract with E.ON to ensure the sustainability of the agreement over the remaining 10 year term (until December 2033). This agreement underpins our ability to deliver comfortable double-digit customer growth over the medium term by focusing on our unique multi-service proposition, route to market and customer management expertise. E.ON remains responsible for wholesale energy market activities, weather-related balancing costs and seasonal working capital movements associated with our growing energy customer base.

The agreement has been refined so that the amount we pay to E.ON for the wholesale services it provides is more closely matched to the wholesale cost components in the price cap (rather than using a proxy percentage of the total price cap). This improved approach is more accurate, reducing risk for both parties, and means both parties now benefit from the full price cap allowances which relate to the activities for which they are each responsible (e.g. customer bad debts in the case of UW). Importantly, the updated supply contract provides us with greater flexibility, enabling us to develop and launch a wider range of energy products - for example a broader set of attractively priced fixed tariffs to both the residential and small business markets. The amended contract also provides a framework for UW to develop innovative 'time of use' tariffs (suitable for EV charging and home generation & storage).

Looking ahead, it is clear there will be significant opportunities as the energy retail market evolves and continues its transition towards net zero. Our updated energy supply agreement will provide the capabilities and flexibility required to take full advantage of these over time, and we therefore anticipate modestly increasing our investment in the proposition from FY26 to further accelerate our customer growth trajectory. 

Outlook and notice of results

We reaffirm our guidance for the full year and look forward to providing a further update with our half year results on 21 November 2023.

Stuart Burnett and Andrew Lindsay, Co-CEOs, said:

"Our disruptive model - of not simply supplying energy, telecoms or insurance like other suppliers, but bundling those services together and sharing the savings we make with our customers - means we have consistently been offering the lowest priced energy in the country for the past two years. 

As a result more and more households are hearing about UW, and choosing to switch their household services to us: we are hugely proud to have helped a further 62,500 families to stop wasting time and money with their existing suppliers since April. 

We are delighted to have updated our existing energy supply agreement with E.ON, ensuring its sustainability for both of us over the next ten years, and enhancing it to enable us to innovate more freely within the energy market and to support increasing numbers of UK households as we transition to net zero over the decade ahead. 

We now have the platform from which we can further build on our current strong rate of growth, and with pressure on household budgets driving ongoing demand for savings, we look forward to welcoming our millionth customer to UW in the coming months." 

Steven Grove, Director of Energy Markets UK at E.ON, said:

"UW is a key partner for E.ON and we are delighted to have updated our long-term contract, reducing risk and allowing both parties to focus on the services for which they have proven competencies."

For more information, please contact:

Telecom Plus PLC   

Andrew Lindsay, Co-CEO                                                                       020 8955 5000

Stuart Burnett, Co-CEO        

Nick Schoenfeld, CFO          

Peel Hunt      

Dan Webster / Andrew Clark                                                                   020 7418 8900

Numis Securities     

Mark Lander / Joshua Hughes                                                                020 7260 1000

For investor relations:

Julian Wais                                                                                                            07720 999764

                                                                                                                            jwais@uw.co.uk

For media relations:   

Lansons Communications LLP

Tom Baldock                                                                                                          07860 101715 

                                                                                                    utilitywarehouse@lansons.com

About Telecom Plus PLC ("Telecom Plus"):

Telecom Plus, which owns and operates Utility Warehouse (UW), is the UK's leading multiservice utility provider, offering bundled household services - energy, broadband, mobile and insurance - through one account.

Customers benefit from the convenience of a single monthly bill, consistently good value across all their utilities and exceptional levels of service.

Customers sign up through a network of local UW Partners all across the country. These Partners recommend UW's services to friends, family and people they know by word of mouth.

Telecom Plus is listed on the London Stock Exchange (Ticker: TEP LN).  For further information please visit telecomplus.co.uk

LEI code: 549300QGHDX5UKE58G86

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements

This Announcement may contain "forward-looking statements" with respect to certain of the Company's plans and its current goals and expectations relating to its future financial condition, performance, strategic initiatives, objectives and results. Forward-looking statements sometimes use words such as "aim", "anticipate", "target", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "plan", "goal", "believe", "seek", "may", "could", "outlook" or other words of similar meaning.  By their nature, all forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they are based on numerous assumptions regarding the Company's present and future business strategies, relate to future events and depend on circumstances which are or may be beyond the control of the Company which could cause actual results or trends to differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements in this Announcement, including, but not limited to, domestic and global economic business conditions; market-related risks such as fluctuations in interest rates; the policies and actions of governmental and regulatory authorities; the effect of competition, inflation and deflation; the effect of legislative, fiscal, tax and regulatory developments in the jurisdictions in which the Company and its respective affiliates operate; the effect of volatility in the equity, capital and credit markets on profitability and ability to access capital and credit; a decline in credit ratings of the Company; the effect of operational risks; an unexpected decline in sales for the Company; any limitations of internal financial reporting controls; and the loss of key personnel.  Any forward-looking statements made in this Announcement by or on behalf of the Company speak only as of the date they are made.  Save as required by the Market Abuse Regulation, the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, the Listing Rules or by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements and will not publicly release any revisions it may make to these forward-looking statements that may occur due to any change in its expectations or to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Announcement.