LONDON (dpa-AFX) - BT Group Plc (BT_A.L, BT), a British telecom major, on Thursday recorded a decline in net pre-tax income, mainly due to higher costs and expenses.
However, the Group's increased revenue was helped by price increases and fibre-enabled product sales in Openreach, improved service revenue in Consumer with annual contractual price rises supported by higher roaming and increased FTTP connections.
For the 12 month-period to March 31, the company posted a pre-tax income of 1.186 billion pounds, lesser than 1.729 billion pounds in the previous year.
Excluding items, pre-tax earnings were at 2.294 billion pounds, higher than 2.290 billion pounds a year ago.
Net profit was at 855 million pounds or 8.6 pence per share, compared with 1.905 billion pounds or 18.9 pence per share in 2023.
Adjusted profit stood at 1.818 billion pounds or 18.2 pence per share as against previous year's 2.158 billion pounds or 21.4 pence per share.
Operating profit slipped to 2.214 billion pounds from 2.619 billion pounds last year.
Excluding items, operating profit was up at 3.201 billion pounds from 3.175 billion pounds a year ago.
Adjusted EBITDA was at 8.100 billion pounds, higher than previous year's 7.928 billion pounds.
Operating costs rose to 18.583 billion pounds from 18.062 billion pounds in previous year. Of 18.583 billion, impairment of goodwill stood at 488 million pounds against last year's zero goodwill impairment.
Net finance expense increased to 1.007 billion pounds from 831 million pounds last year.
Excluding items, revenue was 20.835 billion pounds, up from last year's 20.669 billion pounds.
Revenue stood at 20.797 billion pounds as against 20.681 billion pounds in fiscal 2023.
The Board will pay a final dividend of 5.69 pence per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 8 pence per share, higher than last year's 7.70 pence per share. The final dividend will be paid on September 11.
Looking ahead, for the full-year, the company expects adjusted EBITDA of around 8.2 billion pounds, on adjusted revenue growth of 0 percent to 1 percent with capital expenditure, excludes spectrum, of below 4.8 billion pounds.
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