The complete scale of TalkTalk's financial difficulties has been disclosed for the first time, revealing soaring losses and substantial redundancies as subscribers migrate to rival broadband suppliers.
Fresh filings lodged with Companies House by the Salford-based company show pre-tax losses escalated dramatically from £153m to £465m during the year ending 28 February, 2025, as reported by .
The documents also substantiate that TalkTalk shed approximately 420,000 broadband subscribers over the period, a statistic that emerged widely in May when referencing the then-unpublished accounts.
The organisation attributed the decline chiefly to the TalkTalk division (277,000 customers), explaining its choice to "refocus our acquisition strategy and deliberately retrench from unprofitable segments and customers."
The findings additionally demonstrate that TalkTalk's turnover dropped from £1.51bn to £1.41bn during the year.
The firm noted that monthly customer departures rose year-on-year from 1.9 per cent to 2 per cent, which alongside reduced subscriber numbers and the "on-going market-wide decline in voice" services, contributed to falling revenues.
The accounts have further verified that workforce numbers within the organisation decreased from 2,065 to 1,570 during the financial period.
Sir Charles Dunstone established TalkTalk, which ranks as Britain's fourth-largest telecommunications company.
TalkTalk up against 'fierce competition'
A statement endorsed by the board read: "FY25 results reflect significant change across our key business metrics of EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation], customer base, churn and ARPU [average revenue per user].
"The markets in which our businesses operate have remained fiercely competitive.
"As a value challenger brand, we have continued to provide a value-based proposition to both wholesale and consumer customers and have remained focused on product reliability and improving customer service."
TalkTalk also noted that its ARPU had decreased from £25.74 to £25.46 "due to contractural price rises offset by the reduction in usage and boosts."
BT 'considering' takeover approach
These revelations follow reports from June that BT was contemplating a potential acquisition of TalkTalk.
Prior to this, it was disclosed that TalkTalk had been late with payments to suppliers, including Openreach and CityFibre.
Last month, the company announced it had obtained an additional £100m from one of its existing investors, Ares Management.
In the previous year, Sir Charles Dunstone along with other shareholders contributed an extra £235m to bolster TalkTalk's financial position.
The company went private under the ownership of London-based investment firm Toscafund through a £1.1bn leveraged buyout in 2021.
This transaction increased TalkTalk's debt by £527m, bringing the total balance sheet debt to £1.2bn.
