BT Group reported a significant jump in profit on flat
revenue for its first quarter, thanks to a trimming of costs and
the generation of new revenue streams.
The telecommunications giant reported pre-tax profits of £502m
to 30 June, a 56% increase over the £322m reported for the same
period last year. Earnings per share also spiked, coming in at 4.1
pence, 64% higher than the 2.5 pence reported for the first quarter
of 2002.
Year-on-year revenues for the quarter were £4.58bn, yet BT
managed to reduce net debt from £13.4bn in the first quarter of
last year to about £9bn for the quarter just ended.
"Our focus on financial discipline, defending our core business
and creating new revenue streams continues to deliver results,"
said BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen.
The company also trumpeted the growth of its wholesale broadband
connections, which by early June had surpassed its goal of reaching
one million total connections by the end of the quarter. There was
an installed base of 1.06 million ADSL lines by 30 June and orders
were coming in at more than 25,000 a week, more than double the
rate from a year earlier, BT said. By the end of the quarter, ADSL
broadband was available to 71% of the country, the company
said.
BT has been engaged in a strong broadband push. Its efforts have
benefited from a reduction in the cost of converting an exchange to
support the delivery of broadband services. This in turn has
allowed BT to lower its "trigger levels", or the number of
broadband requests it needs to receive from the public to make such
a conversion viable economically.
BT Broadband and BT Openworld Broadband performed well in the
quarter, with a combined customer base of 536,000 by 30 June.
Scarlett Pruitt writes for IDG News Service