TalkTalk's Dido Harding on firmer ground after cyber attack

Dido Harding looks to have steadied the ship at TalkTalk less than a year after the cyberattack which affected more than 150,000 customers last autumn.

Revenues were flat in the three months to June and it lost only 9,000 customers against 100,000 in the final quarter of 2015.

Chief executive Harding, whose bonus was halved to £220,000 last year, renewed her call for network Openreach to be split from BT.

She said: “My customers are fed up with the fact that the network does not work well enough. They know they are not getting the service they deserve.”

Although the current quarter is likely to see a dip in revenues because it has fewer customers, TalkTalk repeated its forecast of earnings before tax, interest and depreciation between £320-£360 million for the full year. Shares rose 3% to 229.6p.

TalkTalk said its trial installation of ultra-fast fibre optic in York was progressing on target and it expected to sign up between 30% and 40% of homes it passes.

It said this year’s dividend would be at least the size of last year’s.