Shares in BT edged ahead in early trading as the telecommunications giant announced a 14% increase in pre-tax profits to more than £2.6bn for the 12 months to the end of March.
By 8:46am on Thursday, the group’s stock was up 1% or 3.1p to 457.4p.
Despite a 2% fall in revenues, to £17.8bn chief executive Gavin Patterson described the past year as “a ground-breaking” period for the firm.
He added: “Profit before tax and free cash flow have both grown strongly and we have delivered or beaten the outlook we set at the start of the year.
“We delivered our best ever performance for fibre connections in the fourth quarter with Openreach adding almost half a million premises to our network.”
It has also secured content for FA Premier League to 2018/19 and Aviva Premiership Rugby to 2020/21 and last week shareholders approved BT’s proposed £12.5bn acquisition of EE.
BT confirmed it would pay a dividend of 12.4p per share, marking 14% rise on the previous year.
“Our performance during the year is reflected in our full year dividend, which is up 14%. Our results and the investments we are making position us well for the future and enable us to increase our free cash flow outlook for the coming year,” added Paterson.
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