BT Group has reported revenue of GBP 10.30 billion for the UK operator's fiscal first half to 30 September, down 3 percent year-on-year, as revenue declines in Global and Enterprise and flat Consumer revenue offset growth at wholesale division Openreach. An interim dividend of 2.31 pence per share was declared.
Adjusted EBITDA was up 1 percent to GBP 3.75 billion, with the fall in revenue offset by lower costs from the transformation programme and cost management. Reported profit before tax was down 5 percent to GBP 1.01 billion, mainly due to higher finance expenses offset partly by increased EBITDA.
After having GBP 1 billion of gross annualised savings 18 months ahead of schedule at a cost of GBP 571 million, BT has brought forward its FY25 target of GBP 2 billion gross annualised savings to FY24, with further savings in FY25, within the expected cost of GBP 1.3 billion. Group peak capex from FY23 is now forecast to be GBP 4.8 billion, down from GBP 5 billion. Capital expenditure was up 30 percent to GBP 2.56 billion in H1, mainly due to investment in spectrum.
The Openreach FTTP network build reached almost 6 million premises, with the expected average build costs lowered to GBP 250-350 per premise passed. As a result of these lower build costs, BT said it has decided to retain full ownership of the Openreach FTTP network and will not seek an outside partner to invest.
Consumer and Enterprise have connected more than one million homes and businesses to FTTP. The Consumer 5G-ready customer base reached over 5.2 million, with the consumer FTTP customer base growing by 85,000 in Q2 to 945,000. Half (50%) of BT broadband customers now use the BT Halo converged product. Consumer revenue for the six months was flat at GBP 4.86 billion, and Enterprise revenue was down 5 percent to GBP 2.57 billion. Global revenue fell 14 percent to GBP 1.65 billion, while Openreach revenue rose 5 percent to GBP 2.71 billion.
In the Consumer division, average revenue per customer (ARPC) per month in Q2 was GBP 35.4 for fixed, GBP 37.1 for broadband, GBP 17.7 for postpaid mobile and GBP 8.4 for prepaid mobile. The monthly churn in Q2 (consumer) was 1 percent for fixed, 0.9 percent for broadband and 1 percent for postpaid mobile. The rolling 12-month order intake for Global was GBP 3.65 billion in Q2, down from GBP 4.06 billion a year earlier.
