Virgin Media creates 620 jobs

By DOMINIC JEFF
Published on Thursday 9 February 2012 02:35

CABLE operator Virgin Media is to create 620 jobs as it seeks to build on the growing popularity of its TV-on-demand service.

The company said it was adding 500 call centre positions and would recruit a further 120 people to train as engineers under its apprenticeship scheme. The majority of the new positions will be in Manchester and Swansea, with the apprenticeships being across the UK.

Virgin, which employs about 12,000 people, has been buoyed by the growth of its TiVo on-demand service, which recorded in excess of one billion views last year.

In results published yesterday, Virgin’s annual revenues were up 3 per cent to £4 billion, while operating income lifted 67.8 per cent to £540 million.

Its fourth-quarter numbers were boosted by growing demand for the group’s combined TV and fast broadband offerings.

Like rival BSkyB, Virgin has focused on selling more products to existing customers in recent months. The strategy appears to be working, as the number of customers taking its new TiVo TV service, which offers on-demand programming, more than doubled in the fourth quarter with 273,000 net additions.

Also during the period, 133,000 customers moved to its “superfast” broadband offering.

Chief executive Neil Berkett said: “Our strategy of focusing on customers who want more from the digital world is paying off.”

He said Virgin was also adding more services into its combined offering, successfully building contract mobile sales into cable deals.

Berkett added that demand for better broadband also continues to grow, with around half of new customers choosing superfast speeds.

The company recently announced an ambitious programme to double the broadband speeds of more than four million customers, and has been promoting its superfast service with a series of adverts featuring sprinter Usain Bolt mimicking Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson.

Branson is still one of the largest shareholders in the company, which is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and New York’s Nasdaq.

Berkett said he was happy with the progress and said he was not seeing any deterioration over its performance in the last couple of quarters.

Patrick Yau, an analyst at Peel Hunt, said he expected strong demand for TiVo devices, superfast broadband and mobile products to continue. He said the company still had significant opportunities to sell bigger packages to its client base.

Yau added: “Against a stable overall customer base, the company is changing its mix of products, with a focus on higher-value revenues.”

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