In the latest trading update, BT (LON:BT.A) reported a 20% decline in six months’ profit.
The Telecom giant has revealed its profits of £856 million after tax. It fell from £10.7 billion last year.
The group’s revenue fell 8% to £10.6 billion.
Despite declining revenue and profits, BT has increased its full-year guidance from £7.3 billion to £7.5 billion.
“BT submitted its financial results along with expectations for the first half of the year thanks to strong operational performance in exceptional circumstances. Customer demand during the pandemic shows how important our network has become, and we have seen our key network investments double the number of OpenReach FTTP orders compared to last year, expanding to 112 towns and cities across the UK.
“We continue to invest in making BT more competitive and are pleased to see the quality of our products and services improve. At the same time, we are firmly on track to deliver modernization programs, offering a cost saving of £352 million in the first half of the year.
“This performance has given us the confidence to lift the bottom edge of EBITDA outlook this year and expose EBITDA expectations of at least £7.9 billion in 2022/23. This growth will be driven by a continuous recovery from Covid-19 and strengthened by convergence and sales of growth products, as well as substantial savings from modernization and cost savings programs. In combination, these factors are more than offsetting the decline in legacy products.
“EBITDA growth will enable us to continue to drive value-creating investments in our network and products while supporting the planned recovery in dividends next year.”
BT Stock (LON: BT.A) opened +5% at 107,10. Over the past year, the group’s stocks have fallen by almost 50%.
