BT Group on Thursday reported a fall in interim profits due to higher finance costs and partially offset by a rise in adjusted core earnings as it reaffirmed its outlook for this year and next.
The company said pre-tax profit fell 5% to £1bn from £1.06bn a year ago. Revenue was 3% lower at £10.3bn driven by a decline at its Enterprise and Global unit and flat Consumer division sales.
Adjusted core earnings rose 1% to £3.74bn, with revenue decline offset by tight cost management, and lower indirect commissions. An interim dividend of 2.31p per share declared
BT said it expected at least £1.5bn expansion in normalised free cash flow compared to 2022 by the end of the decade, solely from lower capital expenditure and operating costs as it rolled out all-fibre internet network, before any benefits of increased revenue and further transformation efficiencies, net of tax.
It also expects around £5bn of carried forward tax losses from full-year 2023 as a greater proportion of capex to qualify for the government’s cash tax super-deduction.
