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(Alliance News) - BT Group PLC on Thursday made no change to its full-year guidance, despite reporting a weaker third quarter performance.
Shares in the telecommunications firm were up 2.6% at 132.08 pence on Thursday in London, the best performer in the FTSE 100 index.
For the three months to the end of December, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was down 4.8% at GBP1.88 billion from GBP1.98 billion the year before and pretax profit declined to GBP529 million from GBP578 million.
This was on revenue that fell 5.2% year-on-year to GBP5.48 billion from GBP5.98 billion.
For the nine months to the end of December, BT posted a pretax profit of GBP1.59 billion, down 17% from GBP1.91 billion the year before. Adjusted Ebitda was 5% lower at GBP5.60 billion.
This was on revenue that declined by 7% year-on-year to GBP16.06 billion from GBP17.25 billion. BT attributed the fall to the ongoing disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic as retail stores, pubs and clubs remained closed, in addition to ongoing legacy product declines.
There was also pressure from BT's mobile revenue from reduced roaming, lower out of bundle usage and lower prepaid activity.
Earnings were also hurt by the group's continued copper investment in both copper to fibre migrations and in the growth of Openreach's Fibre to the Premises base.
BT's net debt as at December 31 was GBP17.29 billion, down from GBP18.23 billion the same date the prior year, while normalised free cash flow was GBP830 million, down 17% from GBP1.00 billion, due to reduced earnings.
Looking ahead, for the year ending March 31, BT made no changes to its guidance for Ebitda, capital expenditure or revenue, with the Ebitda range remaining from GBP7.3 billion to GBP7.5 billion. For the 2020 financial year, adjusted Ebitda was GBP7.39 billion.
In addition, BT has narrowed its normalised free cash flow guidance range to GBP1.3 billion from GBP1.5 billion, compared to GBP1.2 billion from GBP1.5 billion.
"During the current Covid-19 pandemic, BT has continued to deliver for our customers and invest in our networks, our modernisation programme, and our products and services in recognition of the ever increasing need for improved and faster connectivity. We delivered results in line with our expectations for the third quarter and remain on track to deliver our 2020/21 outlook despite even greater Covid-19 restrictions than previously forecast. BT has shown again that it has the spirit and determination to step up and deliver for our customers, keeping them connected with a range of initiatives," said Chief Executive Philip Jansen.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
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