Virgin Mobile Acquistion & Rebranding Widen Virgin Media 4Q Loss

Virgin Media, formed by the merger of NTL, a U.K. cable company, and Virgin Mobile, announced an increased 4Q loss of GBP122.1 million ($239.8 million) from GBP56.2 million the previous year. ($110.2 million). Integration costs pushed up expenses, which rose to GBP1.07 billion ($2.1 billion), up from GBP519 million ($1.18 billion) in the year-ago period. But it wasn’t all negative; revenue more than doubled to 1.1 billion pounds ($2.15 billion). Customer additions for Virgin Mobile also showed a slowdown. In the fourth quarter they totaled only 11,100, compared to 122,700 in the previous quarter, damaged by increased price competition and more marketing by competitors. The company anticipates that net customer additions in 1Q07 will be “significantly negative, reflecting normal seasonal weakness.” In spite of this drop, average revenue per user rose slightly to GBP10.59 in the fourth quarter ($27.70), compared to GBP10.28 ($20.15) in Q3 2006. Earnings release

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