News 2003
Virgin Mobile continues to smash sales records
21/07/2003
Strongest Q2 performance in the company’s history
- 231,554 net connections in Q2 2003
- Total customer base 2,868,666 (30th June 2003)
- Quarterly year on year growth up by 35% (Q2 2003 v Q2 2002 of 171,367)
- Customer growth up 61% since Q2 2002 (1,781,082)
- Half-year EBITDA of £42m*
- Half-year operating profit of £37m
- Q2 2003 turnover of £102.2m
Virgin Mobile, Britain’s fastest growing network, today reported another set of strong results – its best ever second quarter since its launch in November 1999. During April, May and June 2003, Virgin Mobile added 231,554 net new customers, an increase of 35% over Q2 2002. The outstanding performance has lifted its customer numbers by 61% since this time last year, to just under 3 million, with a total of 2,868,666.
These figures follow the record-breaking achievement set by Virgin Mobile during the first three months of the year, when the company added more net customers than all of the other five networks put together.
Table 1
| OPERATORS | Q1 2003 NET CONNECTIONS |
| VIRGIN MOBILE | 253,200 |
| 02 | 98,000 |
| VODAFONE | 76,000 |
| ORANGE | 1,000 |
| T-MOBILE | -487,000 |
| 3 | Not available |
The company expects a similarly strong performance for Q2 2003, in a market which is experiencing very little growth. Virgin Mobile forecasts that it will have beaten most, if not all, of its competitors in terms of net growth over the past three months.
Virgin Mobile’s financial performance during this quarter has also exceeded expectations, reporting a half-yearly EBITDA figure of £42m. This compares with a full-year EBITDA for 2002 of £16m. The turnover during the second quarter broke the £100m barrier.
The company also introduced a 3p on-net text tariff during Q2, which has aided both strong acquisition and customer retention. Over the past year the average number of text messages sent by each customer each month has risen to 28.5 texts in Q2 2003 from 24.5 in Q2 2002.
The company’s ARPU is annualised at £135 – better than any of its rivals in pre-pay terms.
Virgin Mobile’s Sir Richard Branson said: “Virgin Mobile is continuing to power ahead – this is yet another landmark quarter. Virgin Mobile has become the people’s network; increasingly the mobile service of choice for Britain’s consumers – and we are delighted to welcome our new customers aboard. As the UK market has stopped growing, our ongoing dramatic growth reflects Virgin Mobile’s attractiveness to switchers, keen to leave other networks for a better, fairer deal.
“In particular, our new 3p text tariff is proving to be really popular with consumers – both existing and new – and is helping Virgin Mobile maintain its market lead in terms of sales growth.”
During Q2 2003 Virgin Mobile opened its second customer centre in Middlesbrough, as part of an ongoing expansion programme to service its near-3 million customers. This new customer centre, operated by Garlands, will create 200 new jobs on Teeside by the end of 2003.
-ends-
*All financial results are unaudited. The company’s financial year end is December 31st.
For further information on Virgin Mobile:
Virgin Mobile Press Office: 0845 6006272 or press.office@virginmobile.com
Steven Day: 07931 777 777 or steven.day@virginmobile.com
Alison Bonny: 07802 430276 or alison.bonny@virginmobile.com
Joanne Baker: 07941 233 300 or Joanne.baker@virginmobile.com
Consolidated Communications:
Piers Newson-Smith, Consolidated Communications, 07905 705399
Julia Clark, Consolidated Communications, 07941 230500
About Virgin Mobile:
Virgin Mobile is now established as the most successful virtual network operator in the world, and is the UK's fifth network. Since its launch in November 1999 it has attracted more than 2.8 million customers, making it one of the fastest growing mobile phone companies in history.
Virgin Mobile is a 50:50 joint venture company between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile, and is the UK's first mobile virtual operator.
It has scored a number of firsts, including being the first operator to scrap peak rate calls, introduce a daily discounting tariff, the first company in the world to introduce an integrated MP3 mobile phone and the first company to offer all of its customers a content-rich voice portal with the launch of its 4321 service.
Virgin Mobile has recently introduced a new text tariff, which costs customers 3p per on-net text sent in the UK.
In the UK, Virgin Mobile phones are available direct on 0845 6000 600; on the web at www.virginmobile.com; or on the High Street at over 6,000 outlets including Virgin Megastore, Megastore Xpress, Sanity, Sainsbury, Tesco, Safeway, Asda, John Lewis, Littlewoods, Argos, The Link, Dixons, Carphone Warehouse, Comet, Phones 4 U, TOMO, Woolworths, Toys R Us and Rymans.
Virgin Mobile employs 1,500 staff on four sites, Trowbridge, London, Daventry and Middlesbrough. It was recently voted one of the top 50 places to work in Britain.
Table 2
| Virgin Mobile Data | Q2 ‘02 | Q3 ‘02 | Q4 ‘02 | Q1 ‘03 | Q2 ’03 |
| CUSTOMER NUMBERS | |||||
| Net Additions | 171,367 | 232,300 | 370,530 | 253,000 | 231,554 |
| Customer Base (millions) | 1.781 | 2.013 | 2.384 | 2.637 | 2.869 |
| % Market Share | 3.80% | 4.16% | 4.78% | 5.31% | 5.6%(est) |
| Net Connections - Quarterly Growth | 4.35% | 35.56% | 59.5% | -31.7% | -8.5% |
| Customer Base - Quarterly Growth | 10.65% | 13.04% | 18.4% | 10.6% | 8.8% |
| Customer Base - Yearly Growth | 76.51% | 70.46% | 64.9% | 63.8% | 61.1% |
| FINANCIALS | |||||
| Turnover per Quarter (millions) | £65.8 | £75.1 | £92.2 | £94.5 | £102.2 |
| Turnover - Quarterly Growth | 13.4% | 14.1% | 22.8% | 2.5% | 8.1% |
| 12 Month Rolling ARPU | £136 | £136 | £135 | ||
