For the six months ended September, the telecoms giant reported a 10% drop in pre-tax profits to £967 million. Meanwhile, revenues dropped 3% to £10.1 billion, which the company attributed to a “competitive retail environment”.
The company also revealed adjusted EBITDA rose 1% to £4.1 billion, However, profits before tax dropped 10% to £1 billion due to lower revenue, higher specific costs and increased finance expenses, despite reduced operating costs.
This comes as the group provided an update on its previously announced workforce reduction, aiming to downsize to between 75,000 and 90,000 employees by 2030.
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As a result, BT revealed it had reduced its workforce by 2,000, or 4% year-on-year, bringing total headcount down to 118,000, and achieved £433 million in cost savings in the first half of the year.
BT now anticipates annual revenues will decrease by 1% to 2%, citing challenging trading conditions outside the UK and reduced sales of lower-margin equipment.
Previously, the company had projected revenue growth of up to 1% for the 2024-25 period, however, despite the revised sales outlook, the telecoms giant maintained its guidance for underlying earnings at around £8.2 billion.
Meanwhile, in addition to extensive cost-cutting measures, CEO Allison Kirkby noted that BT is also heavily investing in and accelerating its full-fibre rollout.
She said: “We have accelerated the modernisation of BT Group in the first half of the year.
“We’ve ramped up our full fibre build and connections, seen further improvements in customer satisfaction, and our cost transformation contributed to growth in EBITDA and normalised free cash flow despite revenue declines driven by our non-UK operations and a competitive retail environment.”
Kirkby added: “The accelerated modernisation of our operations, combined with a focus on connecting the UK, puts us in a strong position to generate significant value for all our stakeholders.”
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