Telecom Plus annual profit rises, more customers sought its services

(Reuters) - Multi-utility supplier Telecom Plus Plc reported higher annual profit on Tuesday as more customers continued to choose its services despite a price cap put in place by Britain's energy regulator.

The company, which provides mobile, gas, electricity as well as landline and broadband services, said adjusted profit before tax rose 3.7% to 56.3 million pounds ($70.55 million) for the year ended March 31, in line with the board's expectations.

The utility industry was hit by a national price cap on energy bills, but Britain's Ofgem in February allowed suppliers to increase bills by more than 10 percent from April 1, after several of them complained that the cap was initially set too low.

However, Telecom Plus said it remains sheltered from the full impact of the price cap under its wholesale supply arrangements with npower and is encouraged by the "modest improvement" in its competitive position. Npower is unit of Innogy.

The company, whose churn rate remained steady at around 12% a year, reiterated its outlook for 2020 and said there would be an increase of 10% in its dividend to 57 pence per share.

Telecom's customers include PG&E Corp, Alphabet's Google, T-Mobile US and Sprint Corp.

(This story refiles to fix typographical error in paragraph 1)

(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)