BT Share News (BT.A)

(Sharecast News) - BT posted a drop in revenue and just a slight uptick in full-year profit on Thursday as a solid performance from the consumer business was offset by weakness in the enterprise segment.In the year to 31 March 2019, reported revenue nudged down 1% to £23.4bn while pre-tax profit edged 2% higher to £2.6bn. Reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were down 2% at £7.4bn.The company left its full-year dividend unchanged at 15.4p a share. Investors had been worried that BT would cut its dividend. The group said it also expects to hold the dividend unchanged for the current financial year given its outlook for earnings and cash flow.BT upped its target for full-fibre broadband network to 4m premises from 3m by March 2021 and to 15m from 10m by mid-2020s, "subject to conditions being right". It also said that EE will launch 5G imminently and is on track to go live in 16 cities this year with a range of device partners.For 2019/20, the group said it expects adjusted revenue to be down around 2%, while adjusted EBITDA is expected to come in between £7.2bn and £7.3bn and capital expenditure is forecast at £3.7bn to £3.9bn.Chief executive Philip Jansen said: "BT delivered solid results for the year, in line with our guidance, with adjusted profit growth in Consumer and Global Services offset by declines in Enterprise and Openreach."Since joining the company three months ago, it has become clear to me just how fundamental BT's role is in connecting our society. While we are really well positioned in a very challenging and competitive UK market, we have a lot of work to do to ensure we remain successful and deliver long term sustainable value to our shareholders."We need to invest to improve our customer propositions and competitiveness. We need to invest to stay ahead in our fixed, mobile and core networks, and we need to invest to overhaul our business to ensure that we are using the latest systems and technology to improve our efficiency and become more agile."At 1210 BST, the shares were down 1.8% at 215.25p.George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said that while revenue and EBITDA are ahead of the mid-point of BT's prior guidance, the outlook for next year is slightly weaker than expected. "Tough smartphone and broadband markets are hitting the Consumer division, and Enterprise and Global Services are having to adapt to rapidly-changing environments. But perhaps the biggest challenge is building out the fibre services the UK wants and needs cost-effectively."So while BT's been lucky enough to have had two of the most action-packed Champions League semi-finals in living memory, it's easy to see why the focus for new CEO Philip Jansen is on the far less dramatic business of the fibre broadband roll-out."However, there's potential for a few twists and turns as decision makers get through the nitty gritty of where the different parts of this infrastructure splurge sit within the Venn diagram of the public and private responsibility. Jansen's increased target of connecting 4m premises with ultrafast technology by 2021 and a further 11m by the mid-2020s is dependent on regulators brokering what he sees as a fair deal."