Results roundup
BT has notched up ‘acceptable' quarterly results, buoyed by its cost cutting measures despite a decline in revenue.
The telecoms giant made a cool £375m profit for the first three months of the financial year, around 38 percent higher than last year's £272m in the same time frame. However, the company's revenue fell by 4 percent from £5.2bn last year to £5bn for the first quarter of 2010.
Despite the drop, BT said it slashed its operating costs by £291m and reduced its net debt of £8.9bn by over £1.6bn. The firm has shrunk its pension deficit to £6.6bn thanks to a more buoyant stock market and said it plans to continue to reduce the deficit by just over £500m per year.
The company recently reportedly dodged a strike by agreeing a 9.3% pay rise for staff over 39 months, having failed to secure a one or two year deal.
BT also said it has rolled out fibre optic cabling to over 1.5m households.
"We hit the first major milestone in our fibre roll out, passing over 1.5m premises, and we are now running at an average rate of around 100,000 premises passed every week. In BT Global Services we continue to win significant contracts due to our ability to deliver a world class service to our customers," said Ian Livingston, chief executive of BT.
The firm's full year outlook remains unchanged.
Livingston said: "We have made an acceptable start to the year, delivering improved financial results while investing in the future of the business. In TV we are offering great value premium sports packages and can now compete on a more even playing field."
BT signed a deal with Sky last month to provide its BT Vision customers with Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2, yet some experts believe the firm could suffer by trying to undercut Sky.
