If Bt has bought back 2million 5 thousand shares to day. How come it shows on trades as a sell?

Hmmm.... which presumably means that Openreach was a bit of a millstone around BT's neck?
Which makes Openreach very unattractive as an investment.

Goldman Sachs input:
1 ) We would not expect a legally separate Openreach to make materially different strategic or investment decisions compared to if it were a legal part of BT. Crucially, we believe Openreach, as a legally separate entity, will continue to prioritise ‘Future of Fixed’ G.fast copper upgrade technology investment (subject to conditions set in an upcoming Ofcom “WLAR” review), which we see as value accretive. This compares to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), which we see as likely value destructive. While today’s news is a positive for BT in our view, we expect further ducts and poles regulation to come with the WLA.
2) It does not appear that BT has had to commit to any material FTTH roll-out to reach the agreement. This was a key concern expressed by investors, with a concern that FTTH would be value destructive.
3) BT will continue to set the capex budget for Openreach. The limit with regards to capex decisions for Openreach is £1 00 mn and anything above needs to go to BT board.
4) While Openreach management will report to an independent Openreach board, the reporting line into BT Group will not be severed. Ofcom states “Executives will be accountable to the new Board. Openreach’s Chief Executive will in future be appointed by, and accountable to, the Openreach Board. BT Group will be able to veto appointment of the Openreach CEO, but only on notification to Ofcom. The Openreach Chief Executive will then be responsible for other executive appointments, and will report to the Openreach Chair – with a secondary accountability to the Chief Executive of BT, limited to necessary legal, fiduciary or regulatory obligations.” The BT CFO is on the Openreach board.
5) There is limited detail on the pension allocation.
Investor focus has been on Openreach treatment for the last 18 months and this has been seen as the key regulatory uncertainty. As such, we see today’s announcement as a material positive for the shares. But as we state above, we do not believe Openreach decision-making will change materially as to the method of upgrading the network or how to monetise it.
However, there are two more ongoing uncertainties for BT:
1 ) Wholesale Line Access Review (decision expect this “spring”) - this is potentially more influential to BT returns. In this, Ofcom will decide whether Openreach will have wholesale pricing flexibility on G.fast. This is critical to its monetisation of the network upgrade.
2) B2B - following the recent profit warning, this has resurfaced as a business unit with limited visibility, at least for investors.

Black Rock go below 5%

Exane comment today:
"BT’s shares have fallen ~40% from peak and investors are now asking “are we at the bottom?” Having been guilty of nudging down estimates bit by bit over the last 6 months, we thought it was time to take a step back and to challenge our long term forecasts and assumptions. The result? We can’t help feeling that the underlying business is teetering on the edge. We identify over a dozen factors (ex-regulation) that are underestimated by consensus and will place further pressure on EBITDA and FCF. In our view the market is mispricing BT as they transition from growth to decline.
Ofcom may have semi-reneged on the FTTC fair-bet with 40Mbps price cuts and BT may think that is unfair, but we see little scope for a change in view before the details are finalised (end ’17). Ofcom will not be happy until they see more investment. BT has launched a “fibre consultation” which will likely lead to more FTTP, but the UK is a poor place to build a national FTTP or G.fast network, so BT face structural upwards pressure on capex, just as consumer spend is plateauing.
BT have already signalled their “progressive dividend growth” will be lower than the historical greater than 10%, but on our new estimates they face a GBP800m cash shortfall over 3 years to fund just 2% growth. This promise leaves them on the back foot; a constraint to competitive flexibility and ability to bid on crucial spectrum/content auctions. So does BT want to be a company that faces constant questions over dividend sustainability and one criticised for not investing enough in “full fibre”?
When Mr du Plessis joins, we think he will find a company with deteriorating fundamentals struggling to balance the interests of all stakeholders. We encourage him to re-base the dividend to a more sustainable level: a 30% cut would bring the pay-out in closer to historic levels. Whilst an explicit long term capex plan would re-base expectations and ease regulatory pressure. Together these would put the BT on surer footing to deal with the multitude of challenges ahead.

BT faces a strike threat after unions said they will consider industrial action if the company presses ahead with the closure of its final salary pension scheme. The firm's defined-benefits pension scheme has more than 300,000 members, and although the scheme had been closed to new entrants in 2001, existing members continue to build up benefits. - Telegraph

StockMarketWire.com
BT Group's adjusted EBITDA fell by 2% to £1,785m in the first quarter due to increased pension costs, business rates, sport programme rights and its investment in customer experience.

Reported revenues were up 1% at £5,837m and underlying revenue was up 0.2%.

Other highlights:
- Settlement of warranty claims with Deutsche Telekom and Orange under EE acquisition agreement, arising from the previously reported issues in Italy, with specific item charge of £225m

- Net cash inflow from operating activities of £1,315m down £19m, and normalised free cash flow1 of £556m up £108m due to working capital phasing

- Outlook maintained with share buyback of £200m in the quarter

Chief executive Gavin Patterson said "BT has delivered an encouraging performance in the first quarter of the year. We've made good progress in our key areas of strategic focus: deliver great customer experience, invest for growth, and transform our costs.

"In particular, I'd highlight the growth achieved by our consumer facing businesses, helped by mobile.

"BT, with Openreach, is well placed to support the roll out of FTTP in the UK, and we're consulting with Ofcom, Government and other communications providers to build the investment case to achieve this outcome.

"Our new Consumer business will operate our three distinct brands; BT, EE and Plusnet; to leverage our position as the largest and only fully converged player in the market, spanning fixed and mobile networks, consumer products and services as well as content. "We will continue to simplify and streamline the business and rationalise our costs as demonstrated by our ongoing performance transformation programme. Our businesses are leaders in their core segments and as we drive the business forward I am confident in the outlook for our Company."

The group also announced organisational changes to simplify its operating model, strengthen accountabilities and accelerate its transformation. Marc Allera, currently CEO of the EE business acquired last year by BT, has been appointed to lead a newly created Consumer business, bringing together BT's Consumer and EE businesses. The new Consumer business will operate across three distinct brands - BT, EE and Plusnet - and will span fixed and mobile networks, consumer products and services, and content.

Cathryn Ross, chief executive of Ofwat, has been appointed new director of regulatory affairs.

Ross is expected to take up her role in January 2018.

After almost four years as CEO of BT Consumer, and 13 years in BT, John Petter has announced he is stepping down to pursue roles outside the Group.

Chart of the Week: An "excellent trade" for BT

Citigroup Buy 315.80 - 360.00 Retains

RBC Capital Markets Outperform 315.80 410.00 410.00 Reiterates

JP Morgan Cazenove Neutral 315.80 290.00 290.00 Reiterates

I see the germans (deutsche bank) don't like bt.a

Half year report http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5727639

Numis Buy 251.25 390.00 390.00 Reiterates

Your post #675 presumably included a fish?
Was just looking at the historic gap in the chart above that one.

Fish reinstated :-)

Update on that chart.

Yep, sailed through that one and still heading down. I don't hold but feel sorry for those that are seeing their long term faith in the company being eroded. A few gaps on the way up.....when the trend reverses!

As usual, way behind the reality:
Beaufort Securities today downgrades its investment rating on BT Group PLC (LON:BT.A) to hold (from long term buy) and cut its price target to 265p (from 340p).

Credit Suisse today reaffirms its neutral investment rating on BT Group PLC (LON:BT.A) and cut its price target to 280p (from 320p).

3rd Quarter Results

Results for the third quarter to 31 December 2017

2 February 2018

BT Group plc (BT.L) today announced its results for the third quarter to 31 December 2017.

Key developments for the quarter

Strategic:

· Openreach to deliver FTTP to 3m premises by the end of 2020; sets course to reach 10m homes and businesses by mid-2020s with the right conditions

· Continued improvement in customer experience metrics; Group NPS1 up 5.5 points and Right First Time up 3.6%

· BT TV customers to access premium sport and entertainment content under reciprocal wholesale TV deal with Sky

· Triennial valuation of the BT Pension Scheme is proceeding and constructive discussions continue with the Trustee. We are appealing the court decision against changing the index used for pension increases from RPI for Section C members

· Transformation programme and restructuring initiatives on track

Operational:

· Openreach fibre connections at record high of 600,000, with superfast fibre broadband passing 27.4m UK premises

· BT Consumer revenue generating units per customer increased 3% to 2.02, with ARPU up 5% to £41.3

· Mobile postpaid net additions of 235,000, with low churn of 1.2%; monthly mobile postpaid ARPU down 2% to £26.2

· Average BT Sport viewing increased 23% year on year; best quarterly performance since launch

· Order intake, on a rolling 12-month basis, up 12% to £3,591m for Business and Public Sector, down 38% to £1,257m for Wholesale and Ventures and down 25% to £3,732m for Global Services, reflecting market conditions

Financial:

· Reported revenue down 3% to £5,970m and underlying2 revenue down 1.5%

· Adjusted2 EBITDA decreased 2% to £1,826m, reflecting investment in mobile devices and customer experience, along with higher business rates and pension costs, partly offset by cost savings

· Net cash inflow from operating activities of £1,596m up £81m, and normalised free cash flow2 of £702m up £96m mainly due to working capital phasing

· Full year outlook maintained


more......

Hit by the CPI again.

StockMarketWire.com
Telecoms group BT reported Thursday full-year pre-tax profit rose by 11% but revenue fell 1%, missing management's expectations. The firm also revealed it had agreed a £11.3bn pension deficit with trustees, while revenue for the financial year was expected to fall 2%.

The triennial pension deficit was agreed at £11.3bn and would be paid over a 13-year recovery plan including payments of £2.1bn over the three years to 31 March 2020 and a further £2.0bn contribution, due to be funded by the issuance of bonds, the firm said.

'This means that the recovery plan includes material contributions by BT to the Scheme of £4.5bn by 30 June 2020, when the next valuation is expected to take place,' BT said.

Pre-tax profit rose 11% to £2.6bn, while revenue fell 1% to £23.7bn amid poor performance from BT's business and public sector, global services and wholesale and ventures divisions.

The firm proposed a final dividend of 10.55p, tacking the full-year dividend to 15.4p, unchanged from the previous year.

BT revealed an update to its restructuring plan, which it said would now focus on delivering differentiated customer experiences, investing in integrated network leadership, and transforming our operating model.

The firm said 13,000 jobs would be cut at a total cost of £800m as part of a plan to save £1.5bn and justify £3.7bn of investment in 2018 and 2019 in 5G and full fibre networks.

'The integration of EE into BT is delivering run rate cost synergies of £290m. Our restructuring programme has removed over 2,800 roles and delivered savings of £180m during the year,' the firm said.

For the 2018 to 2019 financial year, BT said it expected underlying revenue to fall 2%, adjusted earnings (EBITDA) in the range of £7.3bn to £7.4bn, capital expenditure of roughly £3.7bn and normalised free cash flow of £2.3bn to £2.5bn.

Numis today reaffirms its buy investment rating on BT Group PLC (LON:BT.A) and cut its price target to 325p (from 400p)

Deutsche Bank today reaffirms its hold investment rating on BT Group PLC (LON:BT.A) and cut its price target to 235p (from 248p).