UK’s only telecoms co-op hits £10m milestone

The Phone Co-op has revealed that its turnover exceeded £10m in the last financial year – a key milestone in the development of the co-operative which was founded in 1998.

Reporting to members at its recent AGM, the co-op’s directors revealed an 8.8% increase in sales, resulting in a record turnover of £10.08m.

Profit before distributions was also up – by 33% to £111,000.

Most notably, earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), a measure of cash generated from trading, was up 161% to £186,000.

CEO Vivian Woodell said: ‘These encouraging results were achieved despite the impact of a worsening economic climate, rising costs, and accelerating falls in the prices of some key products. During the course of the year under review, we addressed a number of operational challenges, including welcoming on board 8,000 SAGA telecoms customers and the implementation of our new billing and customer management system. These and other measures enabled us to improve our operational efficiency during the year, and this brought real rewards which helped us weather the difficult environment.’

Woodell also took the opportunity to map out some future plans. ‘In the context of the difficult economic climate and the increasing maturity of the UK telecoms market, our aim is to continue to improve the efficiency of our business,’ he said.

‘We will also pursue new acquisitions to give us further economies of scale and take additional steps in the further evolution of our product set. For example, we are actively exploring opportunities in microgeneration, as part of our strategy to diversify our business into growing, profitable areas where we can increase sales to our existing customers and members, and also attract new customers.’

The full financial results of The Phone Co-op can be found at www.thephone.coop/membership