KCOM Group today issues its interim management statement.

Current trading

The Group’s performance remains consistent with trading reported at the interim results, as announced in November 2011. Strong cash generation has been maintained, leading to a further reduction in net debt

Ongoing initiatives to drive growth, including the roll out of fibre-based 100mbps broadband within our East Yorkshire network area, continue to make progress. The focus for the Kcom brand continues to be to secure recurring revenue to support our objective of driving long term sustainable growth.

The Board reiterates its commitment to delivering a minimum 10 per cent per annum dividend growth in this and the subsequent financial year, reflecting its confidence in maintaining current performance.

KCOM Group PLC (the Group) issues the following trading update ahead of its interim results for the half year ending 30 September 2011, which are due to be announced on 22 November.

Current trading

The Group continues to trade in line with expectations.  Strong cash generation has been maintained and leads to a further reduction in net debt. Net debt at the half year is expected to be approximately £76.0 million (31 March 2011: £82.0 million).

In enterprise and public sector markets, there has been further growth in Kcom's multi-year contracted order backlog and Smart421’s revenues continue to see strong growth. 

There has been continued strong revenue performance in KC, driven in part by customers upgrading their KC Talk packages. This includes customers taking up our recently launched bundled packages.

Eclipse, our national internet services provider, has seen further success in the SME market, with positive net business broadband additions throughout the period and growth in non-broadband sales.

Super fast broadband update

The initial phase of our super fast broadband deployment has seen the first customers connected, in selected areas of our Hull and East Yorkshire market. This fibre to the home deployment is delivering broadband speeds of around 100mbps. As stated, the committed investment required is within existing guidance.

Corporate update

KCOM Group began trading as part of the FTSE 250 index on 19 September, following its promotion from the FTSE Smallcap index, announced on 7 September.

Outlook

The Board expects the Group to trade in line with expectations for the rest of the current financial year. The Group continues to exploit successfully its enhanced capabilities and strong track record in the provision of services to multiple-site, national organisations, and an update on recent contract wins will be included in the interims announcement scheduled for 22 November 2011. 

KCOM Group today announces its trading update for the period 1 April to 20 July, ahead of its Annual General Meeting on 22 July.

Also today, the company is holding a sell-side analyst update primarily on its KC brand activities in Hull and East Yorkshire. This will include information about our plans for deployment of fibre-based, superfast broadband in selected areas of its current market. The investment required for this deployment is included within existing cash flow and capital expenditure guidance.

The Board confirms that trading remains in line with market expectations, with continued strong cash generation.

Since the preliminary results announcement in May, Kcom has been confirmed as the provider of the Dorset Public Sector Network and we have seen incremental growth in the multi-year contracted order backlog, with further contract wins in the period.

A copy of the presentation given at today’s analyst event will be published on the Group’s website, www.kcomplc.com, at midday today.

KCOM Group PLC (KCOM) issues the following statement for the period up to 31 March 2011, prior to entering the close period for its preliminary results.

Current trading

Current trading remains in line with expectations and we have seen incremental growth in the multi-year contracted order backlog within Kcom during the second half of the financial year.

Group cash generation has remained consistently strong, as a consequence of the cash generative nature of our operations combined with excellent working capital performance and timing benefits associated with certain capital expenditure projects and will result in a group net debt position of below £85 million, significantly better than market expectations.

KCOM Group announces its preliminary results on 26 May 2011.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements in this interim statement are forward-looking.  Although the Group believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to be correct.  Because these statements involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Principal risk & uncertainties

The risks and uncertainties faced by the Group as disclosed on pages 22 and 23 of the Annual Report and Accounts to 31 March 2010 are still valid. 

KCOM Group PLC ("the Group") today publishes its Interim Management Statement.

Current trading

KCOM Group's trading is in line with market expectations. 

Customer contracts

During  a quarter which saw a strengthened multi-year order backlog within Kcom, the Group won an important new contract to design and deliver Staffordshire County Council‘s Public Sector Network (PSN). The agreement will see Kcom provide the Council with a county-wide network designed to allow any public sector body in Staffordshire access to the PSN and the ability to exploit its benefits. The PSN approach is a key public sector initiative that will result in several similar PSN opportunities around the country.

Other contracts secured in the quarter include the delivery of an applications integration programme for Virgin Atlantic Airways, new contracts with Sky Bet and Volkswagen and the renewal and extension of managed services provided to Admiral Insurance.

Further PSN developments across the country, and the continued extension of existing customer relationships, are among the key market opportunities for Kcom. 

Outlook

The Board expects the Group to continue trading in line with current market expectations, through the final quarter of this financial year.  The previously announced commitment to medium term dividend progression underlines the Board’s confidence in ongoing cash generation and earnings.

Bill Halbert, Executive Chairman says: “Recent customer wins in Kcom and Smart421 and the introduction of new services within KC demonstrate our increasing strength and competitiveness in our chosen markets. Our ability to build strong relationships and help our customers exploit the power of communications to deliver tangible benefits, underpin our positive outlook for future years.”

The KCOM Group announces its preliminary results on 24 May 2011.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements in this interim statement are forward-looking.  Although the Group believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to be correct.  Because these statements involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Principal risk & uncertainties

The risks and uncertainties faced by the Group as disclosed on pages 22 and 23 of the Annual Report and Accounts to 31 March 2010 are still valid. 

KCOM Group announces, following the successful completion of the Group’s transformation programme, its intention to extend Bill Halbert’s role as Executive Chairman through to the Company’s 2012 AGM.

This will enable him to continue to oversee the transition into the early stages of the Group’s growth plans. At that point, the aim would be to separate the two roles.

The Group announces also the resignation today of Paul Renucci, Group Executive Director responsible for its Kcom brand. The Board thanks him for having overseen the transformation of the management and operation of that brand. Paul Simpson, Chief Financial Officer, having recently completed the successful re-financing of the Group, takes over responsibility for Kcom with immediate effect, while continuing to retain his Group Finance responsibilities. 

KCOM Group continues to trade in line with expectations and releases its next trading update on 28 January 2011.

KCOM Group PLC ("the Group") issues the following trading update ahead of its Interim results for the half year ending 30 September 2010, due to be announced on 23 November 2010.

Current trading

KCOM Group's trading is in line with market expectations, with net profitability at the half year expected to be ahead of the previous year.

As previously indicated, and as a direct result of the disposal of certain customer contracts to Phoenix IT and our exit from lower value activities, revenue for the first half of the year will be lower than that for the same period last year.

Banking and Pensions

Our aims for this year, alongside returning to growth, are to provide medium term certainty with regard to our pension funding position and to renew our banking arrangements.

Discussions with banks are progressing to plan and we expect to provide further clarity on our banking arrangements when interim results are announced.

Following the conclusion of consultations to close KCOM's two defined benefit pension schemes to future accrual, the Group will introduce a single defined contribution scheme from 1 October.

Outlook

The Group continues to build on progress made during the last two years, as well as securing future growth by exploiting core strengths and capabilities and leveraging strategic partnerships which extend the reach and range of our communications services.

We continue to strengthen the overall financial position of the Group through a combination of measures including debt and working capital management and rigorous cost control.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements in this statement are forward-looking. Although the Group believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. Because these statements involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as result of new information, future events or otherwise.

KCOM Group plc ("KCOM") today publishes its Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 April to 30 June 2010. This update will also be provided to shareholders attending the Company's AGM at 11am today.

Current trading

KCOM Group's trading for the three months to 30 June 2010 has been in line with expectations, as set out in our preliminary results announcement on 25 May 2010. Following the substantial change and progress last year, our emphasis is on a return to growth in this, the second year of transformation. We will achieve this by exploiting our core strengths and capability, together with those of our new strategic partnerships.

Pensions update

As announced in May, in parallel with the funding discussions, we undertook consultation on proposals to close KCOM's two defined benefit pension schemes to future accrual whilst breaking the link to final salary alongside other changes to our pension arrangements. This consultation is now concluded and both schemes are due to close to future accrual in September 2010. From 1 October, the Group will provide a single defined contribution scheme for all employees.

The tri-annual valuation of the Kingston Communications Pension Scheme commenced on 1st April 2010. We have reached an agreement, pending the final outcome of the actuarial valuation, that KCOM will make total deficit repair payments to this Scheme of £21 million over the three years to March 2013 (previous deficit funding had been £2.9m per annum). Of this, £9.2 million will be paid during the current financial year with the remainder spread equally over the subsequent two years.

Outlook

As previously stated, our aims for this year are to return to growth and to provide medium term certainty with regard to our pension funding position.

We continue also to improve further the overall financial position of KCOM through a combination of measures, including debt and working capital management and rigorous cost control. KCOM Group expects to announce its interim results on 23 November 2010.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements in this statement are forward-looking. Although the Group believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. Because these statements involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as result of new information, future events or otherwise.

KCOM Group (KCOM.L) today announces that Kcom, its managed communications services business, has signed a three year contract with Daisy Group, one of the leading providers of integrated voice and data services to the SME business market.

Kcom will provide Daisy with inbound call handling and routing services via Myriad, Kcom’s advanced call routing and voice response platform. The contract will enhance Daisy’s operational efficiencies, providing  an enhanced level of automation for the number translation services (NTS) it provides to its customers.

Daisy Group's Chief Operating Officer, Gareth Kirkwood, said:

"We will use the flexibility of Kcom's Myriad platform to develop our own range of inbound call solutions and meet the ever evolving requirements of our customers. For the first time our customers will have access to their own portal that will allow them to make move, adds and changes to their NTS services, making the process more simple."

Commenting on today's announcement, Bill Halbert, Executive Chairman of KCOM Group said:

"We are delighted to be announcing this important contract  with Daisy.  It is a further demonstration of our strategy of focusing our managed communications services business on higher value added services. The contract with Daisy Group gives us a substantial and potentially growing relationship with one of the fastest growing voice and data services providers in the UK."

KCOM Group PLC ("the Group";) issues the following trading update ahead of its Preliminary results for the year ending 31 March 2010 which will be announced on 25 May 2010.
 
Current trading
 
Group performance remains in line with expectations with the substantial improvement in the performance of Kcom, our managed communications business, complementing the continued resilience of our Kingston Communications business.
 
The Group will exit the financial year with significantly reduced bank debt and a net debt to EBITDA ratio of below two times, clearly underlining our commitment to continue to strengthen the Group’s overall financial position.
 
The Group confirms also that it has now completed the agreement with Phoenix IT Group ("Phoenix") resulting in Phoenix acquiring certain field maintenance and support contracts and creating another key partnership, whereby Phoenix provides national coverage for those activities, on behalf of  KCOM Group.
 
The previously announced agreement with BT continues to progress well with the first significant milestones in the transformation of the Kcom network taking place in March.   The physical interconnection of two Kcom network nodes with the BT21CN network facilitates the seamless delivery of services across both networks.
 
Outlook
 
The Board remains confident that the actions it has undertaken over the past 18 months will see continued improvement in the overall quality of the Group’s activities.  The progress we have made will see us exit the year in a stronger financial position and with an improved competitive position from which to develop.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Executive Chairman, Bill Halbert said:

"The Group continues to make encouraging progress, focusing on strengthening underlying business fundamentals, while at the same time positioning the business competitively to exploit the growth opportunities that are now available to us. 
 
We close the year with a strengthened overall financial position, as evidenced by the progress we have made in reducing the Group's net debt, whilst importantly also having significantly enhanced the capability of our business through the strategic relationships we have entered into with Phoenix and BT."
 
Forward-looking statements
 
Certain statements in this interim statement are forward-looking.  Although the Group believes the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct.  Because these statements involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
 
We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

KCOM Group ("the Group") announces that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Phoenix IT Group (PNX) for the outsourcing and transfer of part of its support and field maintenance business.   
 
The selection of Phoenix was the result of a rigorous process to identify a partner capable of delivering the existing high levels of service provided by KCOM Group to its customers requiring maintenance services.  The agreement will result in 142 employees being transferred under TUPE arrangements from KCOM Group to Phoenix IT Services.

Today’s announcement is a further step in the Group’s strategy to focus  its managed communications service business, Kcom, on its core competencies and on delivering value added services to its customers.  Under the agreement, Kcom will continue to provide maintenance services to its customers, as part of its overall managed service offering. Certain other customer contracts will transfer directly to the Phoenix IT Group, allowing Kcom to move away from the provision of stand-alone field maintenance and support, where it has neither the scope nor scale to compete effectively.

Subject to adjustment to reflect the level of working capital at completion, Aghoro 1000 Ltd is being acquired by Phoenix IT Group on a cash and debt free basis for a consideration of £1.8 million

Commenting on the announcement, Bill Halbert, Executive Chairman of KCOM Group said, "This agreement is another important step in the transformation of KCOM Group and is consistent with the strategy to focus Kcom, our managed communications services business, on its competitive core strengths."

Following the strategic review, we committed to strengthening the business and focusing on those areas where we could deliver value.  By selecting partners focused on delivering the same high levels of customer service, we are able to provide the same range of services, in a more competitive and cost effective way.   Our selection process identified that Phoenix had both the required scope and skills to deliver the high quality of service we need.

"Today's agreement allows us to operate more effectively and enables us to continue to provide maintenance services to existing and potential managed services customers, as required."

KCOM Group PLC ("the Group") today publishes its Interim Management Statement.

Current trading

Group performance continues to be in line with expectations, with continued good cash performance resulting in a stronger overall financial position at the end of December. This performance is underpinned by the continued resilience of our Kingston Communications business, and is benefiting increasingly from the improving performance of our managed communications business, Kcom.

Kcom has begun to benefit from its tightened focus, as we continue to strengthen customer relationships and margins, by exiting lower value-add activities. That progress is evidenced by our announcement today of a new managed service contract with Phones4U (see separate announcement).

Outlook

The Board remains confident that the actions it has undertaken over the past 18 months will see continued improvement in the overall quality of the Group’s activities.  The progress we have made will see us exit the year in a stronger financial position and with an improved competitive position from which to exploit the market opportunities now available to us.

Commenting on today’s announcements, Executive Chairman Bill Halbert said, “The Group continues to make good progress, focusing on strengthening the profitability of the activities that we undertake and the delivery of higher value-added, recurring revenues.

"Our contract win with Phones4U is as an example of our strategy of focusing our managed communications services business direct sales efforts on higher value added services, contracted on a multi-year basis.  The contract illustrates the new opportunities available to us following our agreement with BT."

The KCOM Group announces its preliminary results on 25 May 2010.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements in this interim statement are forward-looking.  Although the Group believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct.  Because these statements involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Group’s Kcom business to provide consolidated telecoms service to high street retailer

KCOM Group PLC today announces that Kcom, its managed communications services business has signed a five year contract with the leading high street retailer Phones4U. Kcom will consolidate all the group's telecoms services from multiple suppliers into a single source.

The agreement includes the provision of a new wide area network for data for all the stores, internet access, leased lines, inbound and outbound switched voice calls and conferencing facilities, and support and maintenance to Phones4U's corporate network.

The contract with Phones4U is a significant landmark deal following KCOM Group's strategic agreement with BT Wholesale. It allows Phones4U to reduce operating expenditure and provides the company with a new state of the art scaleable wide area network as a platform for new services. It simplifies Phones4U’s account management and allows the company to benefit from the extended range of services resulting from KCOM Group's agreement with BT Wholesale.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Bill Halbert, Executive Chairman of KCOM Group said:

"We are delighted to be announcing this important contract win with Phones4U which is an example of our strategy of focusing our managed communications services business direct sales efforts on higher value added services, contracted on a multi-year basis.  The contract illustrates the new opportunities available to us following our agreement with BT."