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BT Group PLC on Thursday reported a jump in profit, placing the company in a good position ready for its new chief executive officer. Shares in the London-based telecommunications provider were up 6.7% to 118.50 pence each in London on Thursday morning. This made it the top performer in early trade on the FTSE 100 index. BT reported that in the six months ended September 30, revenue rose to £10.41 billion from £10.37 billion a year earlier. Pretax profit jumped 29% to £1.08 billion from £831 million. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose to £4.09 billion from £3.87 billion. It explained that this was driven due to revenue flow through and strong cost control more than offsetting cost inflation and one-off items in the prior year Despite rising profits and revenue, BT kept its interim dividend unchanged at 2.31 pence each. Looking ahead, BT confirmed its financial outlook for the full-year. It expects normalised free cash flow towards the top end of the guidance range. BT also said that it is on track to deliver annualised savings of £3 billion by financial 2025. Currently, its programme has deliver £2.5 billion in annualised savings. Chief Executive Philip Jansen said: ‘These results show that BT Group is delivering and on target: we’re rapidly building and connecting customers to our next generation networks, we’re simplifying our products and services, and we’re now seeing predictable and consistent revenue and Ebitda growth.’ ‘BT Group has a bright future and I’m pleased to be handing the baton to Allison Kirkby early in the new year. She knows the sector, she knows the company and she’s the right person to lead BT Group from this position of operational strength.’ In July, BT named Kirkby as its new chief executive. She will take over from outgoing CEO Jansen around the end of January 2024 at the latest. Jansen will be available to support the handover until the end of March, when BT’s financial year 2024 ends. Kirkby has been CEO of Telia Co AB since early 2020. Telia, headquartered in Sweden, is a digital communications and telecommunications provider with around 25 million customers across the Nordic and Baltic region. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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