Profit upgrade sends TalkTalk soaring

TalkTalk's shares leapt by 11 per cent yesterday after the company's chief executive, Dido Harding, upgraded profit forecasts.

"We are bullish," said Ms Harding, who has cut costs sooner than expected and is focused on selling higher-value products.

TalkTalk sells voice, mobile and broadband, known as a triple play, and there will soon be quad play as it launches a TV offering. YouView, the internet-enabled set-top box backed by the BBC, ITV, TalkTalk and others, is set to launch in the second quarter of 2012.

Ms Harding will make money from selling "the occasional film or the occasional series" to customers who do not want a premium TV service such as Sky.

"The future of the business is selling triple play and quad play," because when a customer takes more services "you save money and we make more money", said Ms Harding, who is a member of David Cameron's council of business leaders.

Her focus on higher-value customers partly offset a slide of 43,000 broadband subscribers in the past three months.

Turnover fell 5 per cent to £422m against a year earlier.

The shares rose 12.6p to 131.5p.