The telecoms company BT has cut its annual sales outlook and revealed another 2,000 jobs have gone under a long-term plan to cut costs.
It reported a 10% drop in pre-tax profits to £967m for the six months to 30 September as revenues fell 3% to £10.1bn amid a “competitive retail environment”.
The group now expects annual revenues to fall by 1% to 2%, blaming trading outside the UK and reductions in sales of less profitable kits, as well as a weaker performance in the corporate and public sectors.
BT had previously guided for revenues to rise by up to 1% in 2024-25. But the company kept its underlying earnings guidance unchanged, for about £8.2bn.
The company also laid bare the pace of its jobs cull, announced last year, to slim down to between 75,000 and 90,000 workers by 2030 as it looks to shave billions of pounds in costs.
When it disclosed the cuts, the company said about 10,000 jobs in the long-term cuts would be replaced by artificial intelligence. On Thursday, it said it had cut its workforce by 2,000, or 4% year on year, to 118,000 and saved £433m in annual costs in the first half.
Allison Kirkby, BT’s recently appointed chief executive, said: “We have accelerated the modernisation of BT Group in the first half of the year.”
She said alongside widespread cost-cutting, the group was also investing heavily and ramping up its full-fibre rollout.
“Our nationwide full-fibre rollout has set new records, now reaching more than 16m premises, and we have further extended our industry-leading take-up rate to 35%.”
The group had also expanded its 5G network to cover 80% of the UK population. “The accelerated modernisation of our operations, combined with a focus on connecting the UK, puts us in a strong position,” she added.
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In May, the group announced a further £3bn in cuts over the coming years, as Kirkby expanded on plans to turn around the struggling company.
She said at the time that BT had hit its initial target of £3bn in savings a year before schedule, and that it would cut the same sum by 2029.
Kirby took over the top role in February with the aim of turning the business around and doubling down on cost-cutting efforts as well as aggressively rolling out its full-fibre broadband network across the UK.