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TalkTalk (LON:TALK) has estimated the cost of the recent database hacking that saw information on thousands of its customers stolen at between £30-35mln.
Three people have been arrested over the cyber attack, which saw personal details of 157,000 TalkTalk customers accessed including 15,000 bank account numbers and 28,000 obscured credit and debit card numbers.
Dido Harding, TalkTalk’s chief executive, said the company had contacted all customers directly affected and is writing to all customers outlining how it intends to protect itself from future attacks.
Customers are to be offered a free upgrade and in an interview Harding said many customers had reinstated their direct debits after a rash of cancellations early on.
The attack came after the end of the first half of the current financial year with the costs to be reflected in the full year numbers.
TalkTalk said it added 176,000 ‘revenue generating units’ to its quad play offering of mobile, broadband, TV and telephony, in the latest quarter to September with an increase in underlying revenue growth rising to 5.9%.
Revenues per customer rose by 6.1% as revenue generating units per customer and pricing jumped by 12.5%.
Total revenue for the half year rose by 4.7% to £912mln, but the costs of heavy promotion to drive that improvement saw underlying profits fall to £90mln from £110mln as margins dropped to 9.9% from 12.6%.
Including one-offs, TalkTalk posted a loss of £8mln compared to a profit of £20mln, though the interim dividend rises by 15% to 5.29p.
Harding added: “We have a robust plan to deliver a significant step-up in profits in H2, underpinned by the benefits of our transformation programme coming through strongly.”
Shares jumped 10.5% to 240p, with brokers expressing most surprise at the higher dividend.