I risultati non sono buoni, in linea con il profit warning che avevano lanciato a gennaio per la divisione Global Services, come si era raccontato qui a suo tempo.
L'utile netto si è ridotto di 3/4, ma a parte quello, che certo non è poco, per il resto la situazione vede i ricavi in salita del 5% ... e per loro, che non hanno il mobile, in un trimestre come l'ultimo dello scorso anno, non è proprio un risultato da buttare via, anche se mi aspetto debolezza sul piano dei ratings, specie se la decicsione europea dovesse trovare conferme.
BT profits collapse in third quarter
3 days ago
LONDON (AFP) — British telecoms operator BT Group said on Thursday that third-quarter net profit slumped by almost 75 percent owing to a massive loss at its badly-performing Global Services division.
Net profits collapsed to 97 million pounds (110 million euros, 137 million dollars) in the three months to December 31, compared with 365 million pounds in the same period of the previous fiscal year, BT said in a results statement.
Pre-tax profits tumbled 81 percent to 113 million pounds in the reporting period. Sales however grew 5.5 percent to 5.437 billion pounds, driven by acquisitions and beneficial moves in foreign exchange rates.
Earnings nosedived as BT made a 501-million-pound operating loss at the Global Services, which provides telecommunications and IT products to large international companies and governments.
BT also warned on Thursday that it may make further one-off charges in the fourth quarter at the division -- which has already been the subject of several profit warnings.
"As previously announced, the group results have been severely impacted by the performance of our Global Services division," BT chief executive Ian Livingston said in the earnings release.
"We need to build a solid base in Global Services from which we can deliver positive cash flows. We have already announced changes in management and are making significant financial and operational changes to the business."
BT's share price sank 7.13 percent to 97.70 pence in morning trade on London's FTSE 100 index of leading companies, which was down 1.03 percent at 4,190.62 points.
"It goes from bad to worse for BT as their results this morning show a drastic decline in third quarter net income," said Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital in London.
"The market is not going to take kindly to its key Global Services division potentially suffering further one-off charges in the fourth quarter."
Shares also took a hit after BT said its pension scheme had a deficit of 1.7 billion pounds at the end of 2008 due to tumbling equity markets. That compared with a surplus of 2.0 billion pounds at the end of March 2008.
In November meanwhile, BT said it would axe 10,000 jobs by March 2009 and further staff in the future amid an economic slowdown in Britain, which entered an official recession in the second half of 2008.
BT had already issued profits warnings in January and October because of rising costs at Global Services.
Also in October, former Global Services chief executive Francois Barrault resigned and was replaced by BT finance director Hanif Lalani.
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