The Manchester-based business saw turnover increase from £41.6 million to £44.5 million, with pre-tax profits at £11.2 million compared to £9.8 million to the end of April 2008.
“2008/09 has been another excellent year of trading and forecasts for 2009/10 are equally positive – we’re expecting turnover to reach £48 million and profits are projected to rise to well over £12 million,” said Chris Earle, Unicom’s Operations Director.
“We attribute our continued success to the fact that we provide our customers with highly competitive prices – fixed for three years, and we ensure that all customers genuinely receive the highest possible levels of customer service,” said Earle.
“We’re a relatively small business with a small, closely-knit and efficient management team – and we are absolutely clear in our minds about what makes the difference to our customers: a UK call centre with real people answering the telephone, 98% of calls answered within three seconds, and managers and directors who are hands-on and accessible.”
“Our customer retention level is currently running at 86% against a sector average of around 70%. Of the 14% we lose, less than a third go to competitors, the remainder being businesses that close or move premises for one reason or another, which is obviously beyond our control.”
Unicom has 75,000 customers, primarily small or owner-managed businesses with telephone bills of approximately £800 a year. The specialized nature of the telephony and broadband products offered by Unicom provides significant savings for its business users.
We’ve not actually had a price increase since we started offering our telecom service in 2001,” said Chris Earle.
“We use BT Openreach’s infrastructure and network, so beyond the occasional glitches any provider can expect, our service is as robust as they come.”