- Group turnover up 2 per cent at £4,870 million
- New wave turnover of £1,367 million up 27 per cent
- Profit before taxation, goodwill amortisation and exceptional items of £557 million, up 21 per cent
- Earnings per share before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items up 26 per cent at 4.9 pence
- Net debt of £7,786 million, £639 million lower than previous year
- Acquisitions of Infonet and Albacom successfully completed
- Broadband end users now more than 5 million with a record 825,000 DSL connections in the quarter
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Fourth quarter and year to 31 March 2005
“The financial results for the full year reflect the continuing strong trends that we have seen during the year. New wave revenues have grown by 32 per cent to £4.5 billion and now represent nearly a quarter of our business. Earnings per share before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items of 18.1 pence have more than doubled over the past three years. We have again generated free cash flow of more than £2 billion and reduced net debt to below £8 billion, a level with which we are comfortable. Net debt is now more than £20 billion lower than in 2001. The transformation of our business is reflected in our financial results.
“I am particularly pleased to announce a full year dividend of 10.4 pence per share, which is 22 per cent higher than last year. This shows our continued commitment to improving shareholder returns whilst building for the future.”
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Third quarter to 31 December 2004
- Group turnover up 3 per cent, excluding the impact of mobile termination rate reductions, at £4,584 million. Turnover was marginally up including the impact of mobile termination rate reductions
- New wave turnover of £1,135 million, up 35 per cent, representing 25 per cent of group turnover
- Profit before taxation, goodwill amortisation and exceptional items of £545 million, up 4 per cent
- Earnings per share before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items, up 9 per cent at 4.8 pence
- Net debt of £7,940 million, 10 per cent lower than previous year
- Broadband end users of 4.1 million at December 31, 2004 with a record 813,000 DSL connections in the quarter
“Our transformation strategy has now delivered underlying revenue growth in four consecutive quarters, a significant milestone. We have seen new wave growth of 35 per cent.
“Broadband DSL connections were more than 800,000 in the quarter, a new connection every 10 seconds of every day. We expect to achieve 5 million broadband DSL connections a year ahead of target.
“Our global ICT presence is building strongly and our Global Services revenues grew by 10 per cent in the quarter. “Earnings per share before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items grew by 9 per cent to 4.8 pence.
“These results justify the confidence we have in our strategy which is transforming BT and delivering long-term growth in shareholder value.”
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Second quarter and half year to 30 September 2004
- Group turnover up 2 per cent, excluding the impact of mobile termination rate reductions, at £4,602 million. Up 1 per cent including the impact of mobile termination rate reductions
- New wave turnover of £1,033 million, up 36 per cent
- Profit before taxation, goodwill amortisation and exceptional items of £549 million, up 4 per cent
- Earnings per share before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items, up 9 per cent at 4.8 pence
- Free cash flow before acquisitions, disposals and dividends of £594 million
- Net debt of £8,267 million, 6 per cent lower than previous year
- Broadband end users of 3.3 million at September 30, 2004 with a record 607,000 DSL connections in the quarter
“The group is making exciting progress, delivering strong financial results whilst transforming the business. I am very pleased to report that we will be paying an interim dividend of 3.9 pence per share, 22 per cent higher than last year.
“We continue to invest in our business at a rate well above others in Europe. This investment, together with our continuing research and development programmes, are helping BT take a world leading position.”
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First quarter to 30 June 2004
- Group turnover up 0.8 per cent, excluding the impact of mobile termination rate reductions, at £4,567 million. Down 0.4 per cent including the impact of mobile termination rate reductions
- New wave turnover of £936 million, up 32 per cent
- Profit before taxation, goodwill amortisation and exceptional items of £434 million, down 13 per cent. Up 5 per cent before leaver costs
- Earnings per share before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items, down 10 per cent at 3.7 pence. Up 10 per cent at 4.6 pence before leaver costs
- Net debt of £8,317 million, 7 per cent lower than previous year
- Broadband end users of 2.7 million at June 30, 2004
“The transformation of our business continues at pace. This is the second consecutive quarter of underlying growth in turnover. New wave turnover, including ICT, broadband, mobility and managed services grew by 32 per cent to £936 million. New wave businesses generated over 20 per cent of group turnover in the quarter. This strong growth in new wave has offset the decline in turnover from the traditional business and these results reflect a continuation of recent trends.
“Earnings per share before goodwill amortisation, exceptional items and leaver costs grew by 10 per cent to 4.6 pence.
“Our 21st Century Network (21CN) programme team have announced a number of customer trials with large scale roll out expected in 2006.
“Whilst the environment remains challenging we are confident in our strategy to deliver long-term growth for shareholders.”
