Virgin Mobile says it had remained untouched by the consumer spending slowdown as it continued to lure customers away from rivals.

Announcing its first annual results since floating on the stock market last summer, Virgin said operating profits increased by 10.5 per cent to £53.7 million in the year to March 31 after it added an extra 790,400 customers.

Shares rose five per cent as the group said it was bucking trends elsewhere on the high street, allowing it to deliver its best year yet.

It said: "Virgin Mobile has seen a strong start in sales for the year. We continue to attract market share in a competitive mobile sector and have not been impacted by any broader slowdown in consumer confidence."

As was expected, average revenues per user fell to £127 from £147 a year ago after a cut in termination rates - that is the price firms charge each other and landline operators for putting callers through to customers.

Virgin differs from rivals such as Vodafone and O2 as a "virtual operator" which uses the network of T-Mobile.

Most of its business comes from customers buying prepay vouchers to top up the credit on their mobile phones, although it recently launched its first monthly contract. The group expected continued success in the pre-pay market to help service revenues to show mid-teen percentage growth in the coming year.

It described an increase in its number of active customers to four million in the last year as "robust" in a competitive environment.

Virgin rewarded shareholders with a maiden dividend of 4.88p per share.

Chief executive Tom Alexander said the firm's move into the contract market would be responsible for a third of revenue growth in the coming year.

He went on to describe it as "the icing on the cake". Virgin's contracts are initially being sold through Carphone Warehouse but it plans to add further distribution channels later on. The company, which employs 1,400 staff at three sites in London, Trowbridge and Daventry, said it continued to focus on the UK market but would also explore international opportunities in the medium term.

Turnover increased to £521.3 million from £453.3 million last time. Underlying earnings before tax and exceptionals items increased by 27.4 per cent to £100.3 million.