BT sees revenues slip in first half, but jacks up profits outlook

BT reported a slip in revenues in its interim results this morning, but for once, its Global Services arm was not the main culprit.

The telecoms giant turned in overall revenues of £4.98bn for the six months ending 30 September, down 3 per cent on the year on an adjusted basis.

"Adjusted" EBITDA was £1.4bn, up 3 per cent. Adjusted pre-tax profits were £496m, up 13 per cent, while actual reported profits were £406m, up 48 per cent on the year.

Global services has copped the blame for undermining BT's results in the past. This time, it turned in revenues of £2bn, down 2 per cent on the year, with EBITDA up 45 per cent to £138m. Operating cash flow at the unit was negative £20m, though this was still a gain on last year's £103m negative cashflow.

BT Retail saw revenues of £1.9bn, down 4 per cent with EBITDA of £414m, down 8 per cent. BT Wholesale slipped 5 per cent to £1bn, with EBITDA of £326m down 5 per cent. Openreach turned in revs of £1.2bn, static, while its EBITDA climbed 5 per cent to £532m.

The firm has jacked up its full-year EBITDA outlook to £5.8bn.

Business and enterprise revenues were flat, the firm said, though BT Conferencing revenue was up 7 per cent.

Broadband net additions stand at 114,000. BT said 1.6 million customers were on its 20Mbps or Infinity services. BT Vision said 24,000 net additions, bringing the total number of customers up to 520,000. ®