Harding made her comments as she revealed the full impact of last year’s cyber attack on Talk Talk, in which 100,000 customers had their details stolen.
Full-year profits at the telecoms group halved, falling from £32 million to £14 million after exceptionals of £83 million.
The budget telecoms and broadband group said £42 million of exceptionals were down to October’s cyber attack, including the cost of supplying customers with free TV, phone and data upgrades to compensate them for the distress caused by the breach.
However, Talk Talk said it had “bounced back strongly” from the attack, with 148,000 new subscribers joining in the last quarter, while the rate at which customers were leaving — the churn — was also at its lowest ever.
Sales at the FTSE 250 company came in ahead of expectations, rising 2.4% to £1.84 billion.
Harding said: “Our customers really appreciated our open and honest approach to dealing with it.”
The dividend, which some had suggested could be under threat, is up by 15%.
