BT falls on patchy quarterly news

The price of shares in FTSE 100 telecoms firm BT (LON:BT.A) has dropped by 4.15% to 185.90p (as of 15:05 BST) after revenues fell by 1% during the three months ended 30th June. Profits before taxation declined by 8.8% due to lower income and higher upfront interest charges on leases.

CEO Phillip Jansen commented: “BT delivered results in line with our expectations for the quarter, with adjusted EBITDA declines in Consumer and Enterprise partly offset by growth in Global. We are on track to meet our outlook for the full year.

“We made good progress during the quarter, including launching the UK’s first 5G network, delivering an improvement to our group net promoter score for the twelfth consecutive quarter, announcing the first nine cities in our consolidated office footprint, and being named the major broadband universal service obligation provider for the UK.

“In building a better BT for the future we need to be even more competitive. We will continue to take decisive action, including on price, to further strengthen our customer propositions and market position, both to respond to any short-term market pressures and to capitalise on longer-term opportunities.

“On network investment, we welcome the Government’s ambition for full fibre broadband across the country and we are confident we will see further steps to stimulate investment. We are ready to play our part to accelerate the pace of rollout, in a manner that will benefit both the country and our shareholders, and we are engaging with the Government and Ofcom on this“.