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

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).

StockMarketWire.com
BT reported Friday first-quarter adjusted pretax profit rose 3% but revenue fell 2% as regulated price reductions in Openreach and declines in the enterprise businesses offset growth in its consumer business.

The telecom giant also announced that a trial of its 5G service would be launched in October.

For the three months to 30 June, adjusted pretax profit rose 3% to £816m from £791m a year earlier, adjusted revenue fell 2% to £5.72bn compared with £5.84bn this time last year.

The Openreach segment saw adjusted revenue fall 2% to £1.22bn, and the business and public sector fell 4% to £1.09bn offsetting a 2% increase to £2.59bn in the consumer business.

On a reported basis pre-tax profit rose to £704m for the quarter..

Adjusted earnings (EBITDA) increased 1% to £1.8bn and capital expenditures rose to £839m.

The company maintained its 2018/2019 outlook: adjusted underlying revenue is expected to fall about 2%, adjusted earnings (EBITDA) is expected in the range of £7.3bn to £7.4bn and capital expenditure at about £3.7bn. 'We've made a good start to the year. We are making positive progress against our strategy,' said Gavin Patterson, Chief Executive. 'EE continues to maintain its network leadership and will switch on the UK's first live 5G network trial in October.' 'Initiatives to transform our operating model have seen a gross reduction in c.900 roles across the Group and improved cost performance.'

The new chief executive of BT participated in a notorious "wheeze" that was used by sports stars, celebrities and financiers to illegally avoid paying £700m in tax, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. Official records show that Philip Jansen was a member of Ingenious Film Partners 2 LLP for five years between 2006 and 2011. - Telegraph

3rd Qrt update https://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=6190285

The rumour mill working overtime again......

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/11657862/BT-seen-as-likely-takeover-target-for-Germans.html

Id be surprised if the government would allow it on grounds of national security.

What a shower of a company the sooner a Government gets a grip on these private monopolies the better.

..and Dil your presence is required for comment on the footy thread in particular the last 4 posts.

StockMarketWire.com
BT Group on Thursday maintained its guidance after reporting a 20% rise in pre-tax profits but revenues were held back by regulated price reductions in Openreach and declines in its enterprise businesses.

For the nine months to 31 December, pre-tax profits rose 20% to £2.09bn, revenue fell 1% to £17.6bn and earnings (EBITDA) rose to £5.55bn from £5.42bn.

The company said initiatives to transform its operating model were on track as the restructuring programme removed about 800 jobs in the third quarter.

Reported capital expenditure was up £239m to £2,810m as the company ramped up the roll out of its fibre connections in 14 locations under and had recently announced a further 11 locations, bringing the total to 25.

The net pension deficit grew to £5.0bn from £4.5bn mainly reflecting a fall in the real discount rate and a fall in assets.

CEO Gavin Patterson, who will be replaced by Philip Jansen from 1 February 2019, said the outlook for the full year was unchanged, though expected cost inflation and legacy product declines to weigh on short-term growth.

'Our overall outlook for the full year remains unchanged, with EBITDA around the top end of our guidance for FY 2018/19. We continue to expect regulation, market dynamics, cost inflation and legacy product declines to impact in the short term before being more than offset by improved trading and cost transformation by our 2020/21 financial year.'