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TalkTalk admits losing £60m and 101,000 customers after THAT hack

All those ads promising free stuff, yet they still fled

TalkTalk has reported a loss of £60m related to its major hack in October, attributing the write-off to IT costs and shedding 101,000 customers during its third quarter.

The biz said the costs of restoring its online capability and enhancing security are expected to total £40m-£45m.

It also took a £15m hit "arising from Q3 disruption", as 101,000 customers fled the provider. A further £20m disappeared in lost revenue due to having a lower customer base for its fourth quarter.

TalkTalk's major breach led to the personal details of more than 156,000 people being accessed by hackers. The company had previously estimated £35m in losses related to the incident.

Of the 101,000 customers lost, 95,000 fled because of the hack while the remaining 6,000 jumped ship due to "higher churn".

On the bright side, however, overall revenue rose 1.8 per cent compared to the same quarter last year. The business did not reveal its total sales figures.

Dido Harding, chief exec of TalkTalk, said: "It is encouraging to see the business returning to normal after a challenging quarter that was dominated by the cyber attack. Our customers have responded well, with almost half a million customers choosing to take up our unconditional offer of a free upgrade."

Despite its loss of customers, the company said it expects to report a "material step up in profits" for its second half-year results, "with full year results in line with market consensus."

It is predicting figures of between £255m – £266m for its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation during for the whole of financial year 2016, a 15 per cent increase on the previous year.

TalkTalk did not reveal estimates for its full-year pre-tax profits or revenue. ®

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