KCom seeing good progress in roll-out of fast broadband

The Hull-based company said its cash generation has led to a further reduction in net debt.

In an interim management statement yesterday, the company said its performance is in line with trading reported at the interim results in November.

It said its focus for the Kcom brand is to secure recurring revenues to drive long-term sustainable growth.

The group said it is committed to delivering a minimum 10 per cent annual dividend growth in this and the next financial year, reflecting its confidence in maintaining current performance.

In November, the group, which operates domestic telecoms services in East Yorkshire through its KC arm, and serves big businesses and organisations through its Kcom division, hiked its dividend by almost 21 per cent.

The group expects to trade in line with market expectations for the rest of the current financial year.

An update on recent contract wins will be included in the annual results scheduled for May 22.

KCom said it plans to continue investing in growth, including £25m of capital investment this year.

Pre-tax profits rose 22.7 per cent to £27m during the six months to the end of September compared with a year earlier. The group reported a 1.6 per cent increase in revenues to £198m.

Its cash generation, hailed by analysts as “bumper”, increased 66.5 per cent to £35.3m at the half year. This helped the group further slash net debt to £75.1m from £111.8m a year earlier.

KCom has recently won and extended deals with Bradford-based supermarket chain Morrisons, British Airways and Domino’s Pizza.