BT rings up 56% rise in pre-tax profits

Telecoms group British Telecom today rang up a 56% rise in first quarter pre-tax profits, but said its year-on-year turnover remained flat.

The London-based group said pre-tax profits before one-offs and goodwill were £502m (€714m) in the three months to June 30, up from £322m (€458m) last time. The performance was ahead of market expectations.

BT said it maintained its turnover at about £4.6bn (€6.5bn) and said earnings per share, at 4.1p before goodwill and exceptionals, had grown 64%.

The former state-run monopoly said its core business declined 3%, but added that 23% growth in so-called “new wave revenues”, such as broadband services, offset that.

It said it had achieved a key milestone early by reaching one million broadband connections in June, and was able to cut its net debt below £9bn (€12.8bn).

Chief executive Ben Verwaayen said: “Our focus on financial discipline, defending our core business and creating new business streams, continues to deliver results.”

In a statement to the stock exchange, BT said its group operating profits before goodwill were £730m (€1bn), £160m (€227.6m) higher than the first quarter of last year.

The group said it was a further record quarter for its corporate order book.

It achieved its target of one million wholesale broadband connections in early June, ahead of its target date set in February last year.

Then, BT had 143,000 broadband connections. At June 30 this year, the group said it had 1,058,000 connections, with weekly orders at the end of the quarter of more than 25,000, a 127% increase against the end of the first quarter last year.