We’re beginning to take more of an interest in Virgin Media Business given its ambitions in the UK Public Services Network (PSN) market, so were interested to see parent company Virgin Media’s Q1 results this morning. They revealed that Virgin Media Business is providing much of the growth for Virgin Media as a whole. Whilst revenue at Virgin Media grew by 2.4% in the quarter to £1.0bn, Virgin Media Business grew by 7.1% to turn over £170.4m in Q1. In other words, although still a relatively small chunk of the total business, VMB accounted for 47% of total group revenue growth. At group level, operating profits increased by 18% to £131m and net income was up by £4m, but only to £7m.
The public sector and mobile are both areas of growth. Amongst the highlights from the quarter, VMB secured a place on the PSN framework (see 12 PSN Connectivity Suppliers chosen), signed a significant contract with Portsmouth City Council and began showcasing the Wi-Fi service that it’s delivering on behalf of Transport for London for London Underground passengers ahead of the Olympic Games.
As to the outlook, Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett expects “continued steady progress across the company”, and Mark Heraghty, MD of VMB, is confident they will “continue to be the main challenger to BT in the market”. In the PSN market there are of course numerous other suppliers that would also like to claim that mantle – CWW and Level 3 for starters – but there is no doubt that VMB is now a serious player in the public sector and one that BT, and others, need to keep a close eye on (see The Public Services Network: foundation for change in public sector IT? for more).