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(Alliance News) - BT Group PLC posted weaker year-to-date earnings on Thursday following the conclusion of its third quarter and unveiled a possible joint venture for its sports broadcasting unit.
In the nine months that ended December 31, the telecommunications operator said revenue fell 2.4% to USD15.68 billion from USD16.06 billion a year earlier. Pretax profit declined 3.4% to USD1.54 billion from USD1.59 billion.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were up 2% to GBP5.71 billion from GBP5.60 billion. BT said this was driven by tight cost management, lower indirect commissions and higher revenue from Ethernet and fibre-enabled products.
"BT has had a good quarter with encouraging market share performance, and we continued to make significant improvements in customer service, although revenue from our enterprise divisions was softer than we expected," Chief Executive Philip Jansen commented.
In addition, Jansen noted BT has reached a deal in principle with pay-television operator Sky for a "new longer-term reciprocal channel supply deal to beyond 2030".
BT also has entered into exclusive talks with the US's Discovery Inc, which owns Eurosport UK.
"The new business would be a 50/50 joint venture, bringing together BT Sport with Eurosport UK. The new combined business would remain committed to retaining BT Sport's existing major sports broadcast rights while BT Sport customers would get access to Discovery's sport and entertainment content, including the discovery+ app," BT said.
BT said it is aiming to conclude the discussions early in its first quarter ending June 30, eyeing the joint venture being operational later this year.
BT had long been rumoured to sell BT Sport. In January, Reuters reported BT was close to selling the unit to streaming service DAZN in a deal worth roughly USD800 million.
Jansen added: "Today sees two important strategic partnership announcements on how BT moves forward in the fast-evolving content and TV business. The agreement in principle with Sky will provide our customers more choice and more flexibility for the next decade. Separately, we are excited at the prospect of a new joint venture between BT Sport and Eurosport UK as we enter into exclusive discussions with Discovery."
Shares in BT were down 3.7% at 188.30 pence on Thursday morning in London, the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 index.
By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com
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