TalkTalk up after quarterly news

Shares in FTSE 250 telecoms firm TalkTalk (LON:TALK) rose by 3.54% to 117p (as of 14:40 GMT) as it retained full-year EBITDA guidance following a quarterly update. Headline revenues dropped by 0.8%, largely due to the industry-wide issues in voice, but saw growth in other areas.

CEO Tristia Harrison commented: “TalkTalk enters 2020 a far simpler business with a structural advantage to accelerate Full Fibre nationwide. The recently agreed sale of our FibreNation business for £200m will strengthen our balance sheet while securing a long-term, competitive wholesale agreement, as well as full optionality to work with all Full Fibre builders.

“In the last quarter, we have outperformed the market on Fibre and Ethernet growth, with increasing numbers of customers in both Consumer and B2B taking higher speed products. We have continued to see industry-wide Voice decline, but with the successful completion of our move from London to the North West and the resulting cost reductions our EBITDA outlook remains unchanged.

“As we look forward, we will reap the benefits of this simplification, further cost reductions, a strengthened balance sheet and cash generation. Plus, clear optionality to realise our scale and accelerate customer migration to Full Fibre products over the long term“.