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(Alliance News) - BT Group PLC on Thursday said it is on track to meet its guidance for its current financial year, after slight growth in revenue and earnings in the third quarter that was partly thanks to price hikes.
The London-based telecommunications operator also credited fibre-enabled product sales in its Openreach broadband arm and increased service revenue in its Consumer division. Business revenue, on the other hand, was lower.
BT reported adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the three months that ended December 31, its financial third quarter, of GBP2.03 billion, up 1.0% from GBP2.01 billion a year before, as revenue rose by 2.5% to GBP5.34 billion from GBP5.21 billion.
Consumer division revenue was GBP2.56 billion in the recent quarter, up 5.0% from GBP2.44 billion a year before.
Revenue at Openreach, which provides most of the broadband infrastructure for the UK and is run at arms length from the rest of BT, was GBP1.52 billion, up 7.2% from GBP1.42 billion.
Business revenue was GBP2.03 billion, down 3.6% from GBP2.10 billion.
For the first nine months of financial 2024, which ends on March 31, BT said overall group reported pretax profit was GBP1.50 billion, up 15% on a year before.
Pro forma adjusted Ebitda was GBP6.12 billion in the first nine months, up 2.9% from GBP5.95 billion, as revenue increased by 2.7% to GBP15.76 billion from GBP15.34 billion.
Chief Executive Allison Kirkby said: "BT Group has delivered another quarter of revenue and Ebitda growth, while rapidly building and upgrading customers to our full-fibre broadband and 5G networks, and we continue to be on track to achieve our financial outlook for the year."
Kirkby took over from Philip Jansen as CEO on Thursday, having been named as successor back in July.
"As I assume the role of chief executive, we remain committed to our purpose and our strategic focus, and I am looking forward to leading BT Group into its next phase of development," she said.
BT shares were up 2.7% to 115.25 pence in London early Thursday, outperforming the wider FTSE 100 index, which was up just 0.2%.
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor
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