BT Stays Ahead of Schedule, Increases Dividend

BT reported overall revenue, excluding transit, of GBP 19.307 billion for the fiscal year ending 31-March-2012, down 1.9% for the year. EBITDA came in at over GBP 6 billion, a year earlier than the company's turn around plan anticipated. The company has proposed a final dividend of 5.7p, up 14%, giving a full year dividend of 8.3p, up 12%.

"In what remains a challenging environment we have delivered another year of growth in profits and free cash flow. Our financial strength has allowed us to invest in the business, make a 2bn pounds payment into the pension fund, reward employees and deliver double digit growth in shareholder returns," stated Ian Livingston, Chief Executive.

Some highlights:

Net labour costs decreased by 1% to £4,812m after adjusting for certain labour related costs of £87m classified as other costs in the prior year.

Capital expenditure was £2,594m, in line with a target for the year of around £2.6bn. BT expects capital expenditure to remain at around £2.6bn in 2013.

BT added 589,000 retail broadband customers in the year, representing 54% of the broadband market net additions of 1,085,000 and taking our retail broadband customer base to around 6.3m, up 10%.

Net additions for BT Infinity, the company's super-fast broadband service, were 131,000 in the quarter, and the customer base currently stands at over 550,000.

BT Vision added 28,000 customers in the quarter, bringing the customer base to over 700,000, up 23% on last year.

Business revenue decreased by 6% in the quarter and 5% in the year. Revenue continued to be impacted by lower IT hardware sales reflecting market conditions and a decision in the second quarter to move away from low-margin IT hardware trade sales.
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