London, June 23, 2026, 15:04 BST
Telecom Plus PLC dropped about 26% on Tuesday after the Utility Warehouse parent flagged a steep profit fall for next year as it plans a five-year investment push. Shares last changed hands at 709 pence at 15:02 BST, off 25.8% on the day and down about 47% on the year.
Telecom Plus surprised investors with its new guidance. The company now sees adjusted pretax profit in a range of £80 million to £90 million for the year ending March 2027. That’s down from the £132.2 million just reported, as Telecom Plus plans to spend about £55 million a year on pricing, marketing, insurance and technology.
Guidance at the midpoint points to profits falling around 36%. Shares tumbled, far outpacing the FTSE 250’s 1.45% drop, as investors focused on the near-term earnings hit instead of looking ahead to promised recovery later in the decade.
Telecom Plus turned in higher numbers for the latest year. Revenue was up 5.6% at £1.94 billion, adjusted pretax profit advanced 4.7%, and statutory pretax profit reached £113 million, a 6.7% rise. Customer numbers jumped 23.3% to 1.43 million.
Telecom Plus (FTSE 250) dropped the most in afternoon trading after slashing its final dividend to 12p from 57p, putting the ordinary full-year payout at 50p, down from 94p. Still, a £40 million share buyback brings the total distribution to 100p a share.
Telecom Plus wants to boost the number of multiservice customers, aiming to go from around 500,000 now to over one million by fiscal 2031. The company is targeting an adjusted pretax profit of about £175 million and yearly shareholder payouts near £100 million by that time.
Chief Executive Stuart Burnett told analysts, “I absolutely appreciate that this is a big move.” Bank of America’s Tim Ramskill said, “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a company reposition its outlook so dramatically.” Investing
Competition is hitting now. Annual churn moved up to 14.2% from 13.7% as other energy and broadband firms brought down prices. Insurance services dropped 8.3%. Telecom Plus picked up 193,000 fixed-line and broadband customers from TalkTalk, but only 14,500 had been upgraded or cross-sold by the end of the year.
The plan brings big execution risk. Net debt is set to climb to around 1.5 times adjusted EBITDA from 0.9 times, and the group needs pricing changes, cross-selling, Partner signups, insurance launches, and digital savings to all hit the mark. High churn or weak TalkTalk conversions could put the 2031 profit aim and shareholder payout in doubt.
