Virgin rings up profit on mobiles

BRITAIN'S fifth largest mobile phones network, Virgin Mobile, said today it had moved into profit ahead of schedule. It reported first-quarter earnings of £3.4m which it said was £3.9m ahead of its own forecasts.

It also predicted that for the full year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) will reach at least £11m, and it will gain its two millionth customer.

The virtual network, jointly owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Germany's T-Mobile, said it gained 164,000 new customers in the three months to end-March, taking its total to 1.6m. Unlike all its major rivals, Virgin sells only pre-paid mobile phones.

Last year it cut its losses by 61% to £35.7m on revenues that more than doubled to £174m.