BT Group has reported revenue of GBP 16.06 billion for the nine months to 31 December 2020, down 7 percent from GBP 17.25 billion a year earlier due to the impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic on the consumer and enterprise businesses, continued legacy product declines, and the sale of domestic operations in France, Latin Americas and Spain.
Adjusted EBITDA was down 5 percent to GBP 5.60 billion, from GBP 5.90 billion a year earlier, driven by the drop in revenue, offset partially by sports rights rebates, savings from the modernisation programme and other cost initiatives. Reported profit before tax for the nine months was GBP 1.59 billion, down 17 percent from GBP 1.91 billion, on reduced EBITDA; with reported profit after tax down 16 percent to GBP 1.28 billion, from GBP 1.53 billion. Normalised free cash flow was down 17 percent to GBP 830 million on lower EBITDA and higher cash capital expenditure. Capex was up 5 percent to GBP 3.03 billion, driven by investment in the fixed and mobile networks.
The full-year forecast for 2020/21 remain unchanged except for the the lower end of normalised free cash flow outlook range raised to GBP 1.3 billion, with a revised range of GBP 1.3-1.5 billion. The EBITDA outlook range for the full-year remains unchanged at GBP 7.3-7.5 billion, with BT remaining confident in its EBITDA outlook of at least GBP 7.9 billion for FY 2022/23.
Openreach's FTTP network build has now reached 4.1 million premises, built at an average run rate of 42,000 premises passed per week in the third quarter. It remains on track to reach 4.5 million premises by March 2021. All of Openreach's major communications provider customers are now selling FTTP with a strong sales increase in Q3, with Openreach registering a record 17,000 FTTP orders per week. EE's 5G network is now live in 125 locations across the UK, with the 5G customer base reaching over 2.1 million. Consumer fixed ARPC was down 5.8 percent year-on-year due to declining voice usage, investment in the long-term strategic base and commitments to a customer fairness agenda. Growth in the broadband base helped offset the ARPC decline, supported by record quarterly growth of 88,000 in the FTTP base, which now stands at 686,000.
Post-paid mobile ARPC was down 6.9 percent year-on-year due to a decline in roaming and out of bundle revenue, and to increased SIM-only mix. Enterprise retail and wholesale order intakes were up 8 percent to GBP 3.2 billion and 5 percent to GBP 1.2 billion respectively on a 12-month rolling basis. The Global order intake was up 1 percent to GBP 4.1 billion on a 12-month rolling basis.
