Thursday 27 October 2016 7:29 am

BT Group reports 35 per cent hike in revenue but earnings drop 10 per cent

BT Group said today that while Brexit hasn't had any major impact on the firm, weakness in sterling was hitting its finances, as it reported a 10 per cent drop in earnings but a revenue jump of over one third for the three months to 30 September.

The figures

Revenue was up 35 per cent in the second quarter, climbing from £4.46bn to £6.01bn.

Operating profit rose to £870m, up seven per cent on the £813m posted this time last year, and pre-tax profit was up five per cent to £671m from £642m.

Earnings per share dropped 10 per cent to 5.7p from 6.3p – but overall the company's results came in ahead of expectations.

Shares in the company dropped by 1.7 per cent in in mid-morning trading.

What BT said

The company said that recent weakness in sterling had "continued to impact" on its results. However, it added that, while "the future nature of Britain’s trading relationship with the EU and globally is currently uncertain, the board does not expect the result of the EU referendum to have a significant impact on our outlook". Guidance is unchanged.

Chief executive Gavin Patterson said the results for the quarter were positive, both operationally and financially, and said the company has "made good progress on the integration of EE and the delivery of our synergy targets".

"Our consumer facing lines of business have performed well, but in the enterprise space, UK public sector continues to be a challenging market," he added.

"Across the group, we continue to drive cost reduction and productivity improvements. Customer experience remains a key priority, and we’re stepping up our investments in the second half of the year.

"Ofcom’s consultation on the Digital Communications Review closed earlier this month; we’ve submitted our response and will continue to engage with Ofcom to reach the best outcome for the UK."