(Alliance News) - BT Group PLC on Thursday report lower profit in its financial first half, as costs for the telecommunications firm were increased by higher energy prices.
Pretax profit fell by 18% to GBP831 million in the six months that ended September 30 from GBP1.01 billion a year prior.
However, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 3.3% to GBP3.87 billion from GBP3.75 billion. The adjusted measure removes one-off items, share of profit and loss of associates and joint ventures, and net non-interest related finance expenses.
BT reported 0.6% growth in revenue to GBP10.36 billion from GBP10.31 billion.
BT posted a revenue decline in Enterprise and Global, where adjusted revenue fell by 5.2% and 2.2% respectively compared to a year ago.
Adjusted Ebitda in the two divisions fell by 23% to GBP660 million from GBP852 million in Enterprise and by 5.1% to GBP197 million from GBP207 million in Global.
Meanwhile, Openreach's adjusted revenue grew by 4.8% to GBP2.84 billion from GBP2.71 billion, while Consumer divisioin revenue rose by 2.8% to GBP4.99 billion from GBP4.86 billion.
BT maintained its dividend with an interim payout of 2.31 pence per share.
"Given the current high inflationary environment, including significantly increased energy prices, we need to take additional action on our costs to maintain the cash flow needed to support our network investments," said Chief Executive Officer Philip Jansen.
Looking forward, as a response to cost inflation, BT raised its gross annualised cost savings target for financial year 2025 to GBP3.0 billion from GBP2.5 billion.
BT shares were 6.2% lower at 119.89 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
By Tom Budszus; tombudszus@alliancenews.com
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BT (BT.A)