Telecoms giant BT led the FTSE 100 lower on Thursday as it announced fresh sales weakness across its Consumer and Business arms.
At 140.8p per share, the BT share price was last dealing 4% lower on the day.
Adjusted revenues dropped 3% in the three months to December, to £5.2 billion. Sales were down by the same percentage in the first nine months of its financial year (ending March 2025), at £15.3 billion.
Sales at BT’s Consumer and Business units both dropped 2% during quarter three, to £2.5 billion and £2 billion respectively. Sales at its Openreach infrastructure division rose 1% to £1.5 billion.
BT said its third-quarter sales reversal “[was] mainly due to continued challenging non-UK trading conditions in our Global and Portfolio channels and weaker handset trading in Consumer.”
But Earnings Rise
Despite this, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 4% in quarter three, to £2.1 billion, and 2% over the nine months to £6.2 billion.
BT noted that rising earnings between October and December were “driven by strong cost transformation and one-off other operating income in the low tens of millions which more than offset adverse revenue.”
The Footsie firm retained its full-year guidance as amended in November’s interims. Back then it affirmed adjusted EBITDA expectations of around £8.2 billion, but changed its sales estimates to show a predicted year-on-year fall of 1% to 2%.
Restructuring Rolls On
Chief executive Alison Kirkby commented that “our ongoing modernisation continues at pace, delivering a further step-up in fibre build and take-up, customer satisfaction and EBITDA. Benefits from our cost transformation more than offset lower revenue outside the UK and weak handset sales.”
She said that Openreach “again performed strongly,” with 17 million fibre to the premises (FPPT) connections completed by the end of the quarter. BT expects to have wired up more than 4.2 million premises in financial 2025 as it moves closer to its target of 25 million.
Elsewhere, Kirkby noted that “Consumer returned to service revenue growth and continued to expand its full fibre and 5G customer bases,” while over at Business its “core channels were stable.”
BT announced the sale of its Northern Ireland data centre as part of its strategy of becoming a UK-focused business. As part of this drive, it said that Jon James would become chief executive of its newly-minted, UK-centric BT Business unit in early March.
James has been chief executive of Danish telecoms operator Nuuday since 2021.
BT noted that “this appointment enables Bas Burger to dedicate his time to the optimisation of our international business segment, which is progressing to plan.”
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