VIRGIN Media reported a 6.4% increase in third quarter revenues of £978.4m today.
The telephony-to-TV group, which employs about 1,000 staff at three locations in Knowsley and Liverpool’s Albert Dock and Brunswick Dock, also achieved pre-tax income from continuing operations of £9.9m in the three months to September 30 compared with a £78.1m loss a year ago.
And it announced pre-registration for the roll-out of its 100Mb broadband service which will allow customers to download a TV show in 30 seconds or a music album in five seconds.
Virgin Media was formed four years ago from the merger of NTL-Telewest and has about 100,000 customers throughout Merseyside.
It said it grew revenues in all areas of its operations including cable, mobile phones, television, and business services.
Cable customers grew 1.9% with 14,000 new subscribers in the third quarter, up from 8,100 a year ago, while revenues grew by 5.6% to £662.6m.
The TV base rose by 14,800 to 3.77m customers, and mobile revenues grew 7% to £143.5m on the back of a 32% increase in its mobile contract subscriber base to 1.15m in the past year.
Total broadband customer levels improved by 35,100 to 4.24m in the quarter and from today customers can pre-register for the new 100Mb broadband service which is capable of delivering speeds up to 10 times the UK average.
It will be available in parts of London, the South East and Yorkshire from the start of December and will be rolled out generally throughout 2011.
Chief executive Neil Berkett said: “We are extending our lead in broadband even further as consumer demand for consistently faster broadband grows.”
And he said the group has started to deliver on its pledge of delivering a return to shareholders with an initial buyback of £125m of stock, with a further £250m transaction likely in the coming months.
Mr Berkett added: “Our confidence in our long term ability to maximise our advantages to deliver strong free cash flow means we have been able to execute on our plans to return capital to stockholders.”
By the end of September the group’s long term debt stood at £5.76bn.
