BT has said itsGlobal Services
groupwill take a one-off charge of £340m as a
result of financial and contract reviews, which will negatively
impact the company's financial results. The company updated the
city this morning ahead of its fourth quarter 2008 results, which
are due on 12 February.
The company said it has identified a number of cost saving
opportunities around access costs, external procurement, total
labour resource, and networks and systems.
"We expect to see the impact of these programmes in the 2009/10
financial year and beyond," BT said.
Ian Livingston, chief executive of BT, said, "The first job of
the new management team in Global Services and the new group
finance director has been to review the financial position of
Global Services and its major contracts.
"These ongoing reviews reflect changed circumstances and a more
cautious view of the delivery of cost efficiencies and contract
performance, particularly in the light of the current economic
climate.
"We have also initiated a review of Global Services' operations,
which will help us drive our cost saving initiatives and further
enhance our ability to serve customers."
He added, "The performance of the rest of the group is ahead of
expectations for the third quarter but unfortunately this will be
more than offset by the issues in Global Services."
Last year, BT Global Services said it would be
outsourcing its IT operations.
BT shares slide 30% as global IT services arm falters
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