Telecom Plus PLC
23 November 2005
This announcement replaces the Trading Statement announcement released on
Wednesday 23 November 2005 at 13.57 under RNS no 5695U. An
amendment has been made to the final sentence. The full announcement text
appears below.
Telecom plus plc ('the Company')
Trading Statement
In the preliminary results announcement issued on 10 June 2005, the Company
stated that it anticipated profits for the current year to 31 March 2006 would
be slightly lower compared with last year, due to the continuing impact of
losses within its gas supply business and increased customer acquisition costs.
The Company continues to expect a significant increase in turnover during the
current year as both its customer base and the number of services taken by each
customer continue to grow, however over recent days the wholesale price of gas
(both day-ahead as well as for the coming four winter months) has become
increasingly volatile and reached unprecedented highs, with the result that full
year profits to 31 March 2006 are now expected to be substantially lower than
last year.
We have recently concluded a long term working capital facility with Barclays
Bank plc, enabling us to implement a systematic hedging programme which will
progressively align our wholesale energy costs with those of our main
competitors. We continue however to purchase the majority of our gas for this
winter on a short-term basis, as the price demanded for medium term purchases
makes it commercially unattractive to hedge at present.
The Company intends to announce its interim results for the six months ended 30
September 2005 on Tuesday 13 December 2005. The Directors anticipate that the
pre-tax profits for this period will be in excess of £5million but the final
outcome for the full year remains uncertain as it will be dependant on the
levels of wholesale gas prices for the rest of this winter.
23 November 2005
END
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