The decline in results was led by Global Services, where sales fell 13 percent to GBP 1.757 billion and adjusted EBITDA dropped 18 percent to GBP 130 million. Order intake reached GBP 1.3 billion, slightly better than Q1.
BT Retail posted a 3 percent drop in sales to GBP 1.791 billion, while EBITDA rose 7 percent to GBP 474 million. The retail fibre broadband customer base rose by 160,000 in the three months to 875,000, while overall retail broadband customers were up by 81,000, good for 47 percent of market additions, BT claims. BT Vision added 21,000 new customers for a total of over 750,000 at end-September.
BT said it expects an improving trend in underlying sales, excluding transit, in the second half compared to the first six months, but sales over the full year will still be lower. It previously forecast an improvement in underlying annual sales.The drop in underlying revenue accelerated to 5.5 percent in Q2, due in part to the Court of Appeal decision on ladder pricing as well as tough conditions in Europe and the financial services sector, regulatory price reductions and lower revenue from calls and lines. The operator still expects to grow adjusted EBITDA over the full year, despite lower results at Global Services, after reporting a 1 percent increase in H1.
Normalised cash flow is expected to be broadly stable this year, despite a 75 percent drop in H1 which BT blamed on billing timings. BT still increased the interim dividend 15 percent to 3.0p per share.
