Market pans MMO2 results

MMO2 saw its shares slide this morning as BT's former wireless division posted its first full year results.

Turnover for the year to March 31 rose 11 per cent to £4.28 billion although some analysts were disappointed that the growth was not higher.

Pre-tax loss rumbled in at £873 million.

The number of MMO2 customers increased by 12 per cent to 17.5 million and it claims to have halted a decline in the amount of revenue it gets from each punter.

Revenue generated from data services more than doubled during the year accounting for 11.7 per cent of service revenues.

Oh, and mmO2's customers sent more than 5.3 billion text messages during the year.

Said David Varney, chairman of mmO2: "Our market environment remains challenging, with subscriber growth slowing and the market for mobile data services still in its early stage of development.

"We believe mmO2 has the right strategy and is well positioned for the next phase of industry growth, driven by customer demand for new mobile data services," he said.

MMO2 also used the publication of its full-year results to talk about its O2 branding launched this month. Apparently, the brand conveys "freshness, life, freedom, and clarity". Freshness? Freedom?

Hang on, isn't this the company that sponsors the current Big Brother show in the UK and involves depriving people of their freedom?

By late morning shares in MMO2 were down 15 per cent (7.25p) at 41p. ®