Retail distribution boosts demand for Virgin Mobile
Strong growth across first half
Virgin Mobile’s growing retail presence has helped to drive strong consumer demand for its products across the past six months.
In a pre-close trading statement, the company said that in a market where price competition continues to be high, its increased distribution, as well as Virgin Mobile’s brand appeal and competitive offer, has driven continued expansion and gains in market share.
The brand has a presence in around 5,000 retail outlets, including its own Virgin Mobile stores, along with Virgin Megastores, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Safeway, Asda, John Lewis, Littlewoods, Argos, The Link, Dixons, Carphone Warehouse, Curry’s, Comet, Phones 4 U, TOMO, Woolworths, Toys R Us and Rymans. Last month, it announced plans to trial concessions in WH Smith stores.
In the coming weeks, the company said it plans to launch a new pre-pay offer which will reward higher-spending customers with benefits usually associated with contracts. A new camera-phone range will also be launched.
Chief executive Tom Alexander said: “We have built on our first quarter achievements. The combination of strong customer growth and our efficient operating model will result in margins for the first half being well ahead of the same period a year ago.
“We have some exciting new product developments in the second half that will continue to increase our popularity, particularly among higher usage customers.”
The company said its service revenue growth was strong, but sounded a cautious note by saying a first half percentage growth rate in the mid-twenties would fall back to the high teens in the second half, affected by regulatory price cuts ordered by OFCOM.
