Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Sean Parker, Facebook's first president, have something in common: they both sit on boards for The People's Operator (TPO). The Aim-traded virtual mobile operator, which allows users to donate a tenth of their monthly bill to a charity of their choosing and intends to give a quarter of its annual trading profits to an independent foundation, posted stellar revenue and subscriber growth in 2014.
Loss-making TPO's strategy centres on spending less on marketing than its competitors, thus acquiring customers more cheaply, and then retaining them for longer. Its upcoming social network, where members can raise money for causes and donate to charities, will be key to its success.
The sudden passing of TPO chairman Andrew Rosenfeld in February doesn't seem to have disrupted progress: Mr Wales stepped into his shoes. The group has more than doubled its subscribers to 30,000 since the December year-end. It's only spending about £7 to acquire each new customer, and average revenue per user remains robust.
TPO also signed a long-term deal with US mobile carrier Sprint, paving the way for a US launch this summer. After that, it will begin exploring expansion into Asia, continental Europe and elsewhere.
Broker finnCap expects pre-tax losses to widen to £6.4m, giving a loss per share of 6.3p, followed by profit of £17.1m and EPS of 13.3p per share in 2016.
| THE PEOPLE'S OPERATOR (TPO) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 132p | MARKET VALUE: | £102m | |
| TOUCH: | 129-135p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 145p | LOW: 123p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 24p | NET CASH: | £18.4m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 0.1 | -1.5 | na | na |
| 2014† | 0.4 | -2.3 | na | na |
| % change | +594 | - | - | - |
†TPO listed in December 2014 | ||||
