Profit down, revenue up at BT

BT saw profit fall seven per cent despite revenue increase

BT has unveiled a seven per cent fall in first-quarter profit to £613m, compared with £658m for the same period last year.

Growth in managed solutions (21 per cent) and broadband and convergence revenue helped push turnover up three per cent to £5.12bn, compared with £5.03bn for the first quarter of 2007.

BT expects to see strong revenue growth in BT Global Services but warns that currency movements might help trigger slight falls in margins in 2008/9.

The group now plans to provide high-performance broadband to 10 million homes via a fibre network, said Ian Livingston, chief executive at BT.

"We have announced plans to invest £1.5bn to make fibre-based, super-fast broadband available to as many as 10 million homes in the UK by 2012, dependent on an appropriate regulatory environment.

"BT Global Services has increased revenue by 13 per cent with strong growth of 33 per cent outside the UK. We achieved total contract wins of £8.2bn over the past 12 months, and the pipeline of new business remains strong," he added.