Highlights:
•Our key revenue measure was flat – a significantly improved performance
•Underlying operating costs4 excluding transit down 2%, despite our investments
•EBITDA1 up 4% and earnings per share1 up 22%
•Fibre available to more than half of UK homes and businesses and roll out accelerating in rural areas
•Fibre customer base more than doubled, now at more than 1.5m
•BT Global Services order intake of £2.0bn
Ian Livingston, Chief Executive, commenting on the results, said “We are doing what we said we would do. In an environment where it is easier to focus only on the short-term, we are investing in our future and delivering growth in profits and dividends. We are driving fibre across the UK, launching high quality sports channels, investing in the high-growth regions of the world and will use our wi-fi capabilities and 4G spectrum to make sure our customers will be the best connected. We have created around 3,000 new jobs in the UK over the last year to support these investments.
“Our focus on improving efficiency across the business will allow us to continue to deliver strong financial results whilst making these investments. Our good performance this year is reflected in our dividend which is up 14% for the year.
“We have a lot more to do but we are now a lot better positioned to do it.”