BT reported quarterly revenue of 5,122 million pounds, down 3%, or 6% excluding foreign exchange movements and acquisitions. Adjusted EBITDA was 1,436 million pounds, up 2% reflecting progress in all lines of business. The company upgraded its financial outlook for 2009/10 -- it now expects revenues to decline by 3-4% annually compared to previous guidance of 4-5%. BT now forecasts capital spending to be $2.6 billion pounds compared to an earlier forecast of $2.7 billion.
"We have had another quarter of progress but there remains a lot more to do. With total cost reductions of over 900 million pounds in the first half, we have made significant headway towards our previous target of well over 1bn pounds for the full year. We now expect to generate at least 1.6 billion pounds of free cash flow this year, compared with our previous target of over 1 billion pounds," stated Ian Livingston, BT's CEO.
Some highlights:
- For BT Global Services, underlying revenue was down 8% due to declines in calls and lines in UK and Europe, mobile termination rate reductions and lower equipment sales
- For BT Retail, ARPU was up £6 to £296
- For BT Vision, the subscriber base has reached 436,000
- For BT Wholesale, quarterly revenue fell 4% due to mobile termination price reductions.
