BT’s share price rises as profits jump but sales dip | City A.M.
BT Group’s share price climbed 3.7 per cent this morning as the telecoms giant revealed pre-tax profit soared, despite revenue dipping in the first quarter.
The figures
Sales at the telecoms giant dropped to £5.7bn, down from £5.8bn, for the first quarter to 30 June. However pre-tax profit jumped to £704m from £418m.
Its monthly fixed average revenue per user (ARPU) rose one per cent to £37.9, while churn rate of customers “remains low at 1.2 per cent”.
Why it’s interesting
This may be one of chief executive Gavin Patterson’s last results ahead of his departure, and follows a recent revolt against his pay, but the business appears in good health.
Operational highlights include the launch of new converged products including BT Plus and 4G Assure and plans to forge ahead with the UK’s first live 5G trial network in East London in October.
What BT said
Patterson said: “We’ve made a good start to the year. We are making positive progress against our strategy. Our customer experience metrics continue to improve and we have seen the successful launch of new converged products including BT Plus, our first Consumer converged offering and 4G Assure, for business customers. Initiatives to transform our operating model have seen a gross reduction in c.900 roles across the group and improved cost performance.”
He added: “Our outlook for the year remains unchanged.”
What analysts said
Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, was unimpressed.
“It has been a much slower burn but if you look at BT’s share price over the last few years it is down 50 per cent and that tells you a lot about the state of the company I think,” he told the BBC.
“And the fact is we haven’t got a chief executive at the moment, even though we’re embarking on a restructuring, we haven’t got a chief executive and that makes it a bit rudderless.”