Thus trimmed its operating loss for the year and achieved a net profit courtesy of a tax credit of £69.6m.
The telecoms provider said on Monday it made an operating loss of £11.1m after restructuring costs, half that of the previous year.
Pre-tax losses were £15.1m, down from £28.3m, while the tax credit gave a net profit of £54.5m on revenues that were more than 50 per cent stronger at £533m. The cost of sales also rose more than 50 per cent, to £443m.
The company said its board was confident Thus would move into operating profit in the current year although it remained “cautious on pricing and the market structure for telecommunication services in the UK”.
Thus said second-half growth was better than for the first half with organic revenue growth 5 per cent stronger and operating earnings up 28 per cent.
William Allen, chief executive, said: “Strong growth in the second half was such that we exited the year with more revenue from next-generation services than from our legacy base. Thus has now passed through the transition point from legacy services to next-generation service growth, and it is clear that future growth in our market will be determined by the ability to manage and grow converged services and managed solutions.”
Integration of Your Communications and Legend Communications is still expected to deliver annual synergies of £30m. The cost of integration has been reduced from £30m to £25m.
The Managed Solution division, which caters for more complex corporate clients, was the strong performer, growing revenue by 30 per cent to £95m – 18 per cent of group total – and raising operating profit by more than 120 per cent to £18.9m. The division has achieved a number of important contract wins.
Data and Telecoms remains the biggest division with revenues of £312.5m representing 59 per cent of the total. Stripping out the impact of acquisitions, the revenue growth was 14 per cent with operating profit up 42 per cent to £61.5m.
Internet revenues rose 22 per cent to £84.7m thanks to acquisitions but operating profit fell to £23.1m from £27.7m the year before. The division suffered from the decline in dial-up internet services.
The Mobile division, created last year, achieved revenues of £40.5m and an operating profit of £4.2m.
In early London trading the company’s share price was 4 per cent stronger at 176.3p.
