Carphone Warehouse 2002 Annual Report Download - page 8

Revenue up 193% and contribution up 98%, showing
our ability to develop revenue beyond the point of sale
through billing, messaging and customer care services.
Review of operations
Telecom services
Growing revenue
beyond the point of
sale rings true
6The Carphone Warehouse Group PLC Annual Report 2002
• Customers under management over 1 million
• Turnover £89.3m (2001 – £30.5m)
• Contribution £35.9m (2001 – £18.1m)
Our Telecoms services business has experienced significant growth
during the last twelve months and now plays an increasingly important
role in the Group's strategy. This performance demonstrates our ability
to continue to generate revenue beyond the point of sale.
Revenues from Telecoms services have increased by 193% to £89.3m
against £30.5m in the previous period, and contribution by 98% to
£35.9m against £18.1m in 2001. This growth in contribution clearly
demonstrates the extent to which the Telecoms services business has
grown within the Group. This is a result of the increased number of
customers under our management and the number of networks with
which we have facilities management agreements.
During the last year we have grown this business through attracting
high value customers, new network arrangements and corporate
acquisition. In May 2001 we acquired the French business CMC, our
largest acquisition to date. CMC has two call centres in France, and has
now been successfully integrated into the business. Since the
acquisition, we have won a significant contract to manage more
customers for the French network SFR and established a bespoke call
centre in Le Mans to undertake these activities.
During the last year we have grown the Telecoms
services business through attracting high value
customers, new network arrangements, and
through acquisition
In the UK we invested in a new call centre in Acton, London and in
October 2001 we negotiated a new contract with Vodafone to provide
facilities management services for their customers in the UK, in addition
to our existing contract with O2. We are currently negotiating with a
number of additional Pan-European networks with the aim of providing
these facilities management services for an even wider range of
customers.
We currently have 864,000 facilities management customers in the
UK and France, for whom we manage the billing, debt collection and
customer services on behalf of the network operators. These activities
complement our retail business, as we continue to focus on the provision
of after sales services to customers.
The high level of mobile penetration in Western Europe has led to a
growing need to provide high quality customer care and service, both at
and after the point of sale. In a replacement market, it is increasingly
important to ensure the right choice of phone for the customer and also
that customers benefit from the increasing capabilities and capacity of
their mobile phones. We can now offer this level of service throughout
our customers’ mobile lives with a continuous customer interface.
The Telecoms services business also manages the customer care for
our own customers, on a package branded "Fresh". The Fresh tariffs are
provided on the T-Mobile network and are designed to bridge the gap
between conventional subscription and prepay tariffs.
The Group now operates four call centres in the
UK and France, with over 900 skilled telecoms
operatives
The Group will continue with its strategy to expand the scale of its
Telecoms services business, which is rapidly increasing the proportion of
earnings that are recurring and inherently of higher quality. In the year
ahead we plan to continue to roll out this model and work with more
European networks across more of our markets.