Sales dip but profit inches up for BT in FY25

BT Group saw its revenue for FY25 (the twelve months ended 31st March) dip by 2% yoy to £20.4bn. The reduction was driven mainly by softer international sales and weaker demand for handsets. Tight cost control, however, helped to deliver a small improvement in adjusted EBITDA for the period. This metric rose by 1% yoy to £8.2bn as the transformation programme announced last May (see here) delivered ahead of plan with £913m of gross annualised savings during FY25.

Among the group’s divisions its was BT Open Reach which delivered the strongest performance last year. The unit’s FY25 turnover and adjusted EBITDA up by 1% to £6.16bn and 5% to £4bn respectively. BT Business, which houses the company’s SITS activities, saw its annual sales decline by 4% yoy to £7.84bn, albeit its domestic services revenue shrank at only half this rate to £4.86bn as the division continued to refocus its energies on the UK market. As we noted in our recent public sector supplier prospects report (see here), this strategy has yielded results, with BT securing several significant UK critical national infrastructure contracts in recent years. Despite a strong win rate, particularly in central government, however, the company continues to face challenges from the runoff of legacy contracts.

Looking ahead, BT Group is not anticipating material changes in either its top or bottom line fortunes for the current financial year. Mid-term guidance from the company, however, projects sustained group and UK services revenue growth from FY27 accompanied by EBITDA increases ahead of turnover supported by enhanced by cost transformation.

Posted by: Duncan Aitchison at 08:30

Tags: results   telecommunications