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☆ BT shares soar as British broadband provider targets another £3 billion in cost cuts
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Vicky Mckeever | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON — Shares of BT Group surged Thursday after the firm announced a target of a further £3 billion ($3.8 billion) in cost savings. BT shares were up 14.9% at 12:40 p.m. London time after CEO Allison Kirkby said the company had passed peak capital expenditure on its fiber broadband rollout and achieved its £3 billion cost and service transformation program "a year ahead of schedule." BT posted revenue of £20.8 billion ($26.3 billion) for the year to March, up slightly from £20.7 billion in the previous year. The firm is now targeting a further £3 billion in cost savings by the end of the full-year 2029. BT is looking to simplify the company as part of the next phase of its transformation program.

Persons: Allison Kirkby, Kirkby, Philip Jansen, Jansen Organizations: BT Group, BT Locations: London, Kirkby

SummaryCompanies UK business investment has lagged since Brexit"Largest business tax cut" in modern history-HuntTax break costs 11 bln stg a yearOBR forecasts 3 bln stg a year investment boostLONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Britain's finance minister Jeremy Hunt made a tax break for business investment permanent on Wednesday, aiming to kickstart growth in the country's sluggish economy. Hunt hopes that by making permanent the tax break known as "full expensing", companies will spend more on new kit and technology, lifting productivity. This is the largest business tax cut in modern British history," Hunt said in his Autumn Statement on Wednesday. BT (BT.L), a beneficiary of the tax break as it is investing billions in building a new fibre network, welcomed Hunt's move. British business investment has trailed that of other developed economies, according to research from the International Monetary Fund.

Persons: Jeremy Hunt, Hunt, Hunt's, Philip Jansen, Jessica Taylor, Handout, Stephen Phipson, Robert Forrester, David Milliken, Kylie MacLellan, Sarah Young, Kate Holton, Alex Richardson Organizations: LONDON, BT, Labour, Conservatives, Britain's, REUTERS Acquire, International Monetary Fund, Vertu, BBC Radio, Thomson Locations: Britain, London, British

☆ BT rises after quarterly earnings beat forecasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A BT Group Plc logo on a EE/BT Group Plc store in London, UK, on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. BT Group, Britain's biggest broadband and mobile provider, posted a second quarter earnings beat and forecast annual cash flow at the top end of a range, lifting its shares in a parting boost for outgoing CEO Philip Jansen. Shares in BT jumped 5% in early deals, good news for Jansen who is due to step down early next year and has long said he has been disappointed by the group's stock performance. Her job will be to complete Jansen's multi-billion pound push into fibre networks and extending 5G networks, the cost of which has hit free cash flow and weighed on the share price. For the three months to the end of September, BT posted a 3% rise in adjusted core profit (EBITDA) to 2.06 billion pounds ($2.51 billion) beating the 2.03 billion pounds consensus forecast.

Persons: Philip Jansen, Jansen, Hargreaves, Matt Britzman, Allison Kirkby, Sweden's Organizations: BT, BT Group Plc, BT Group Locations: London

☆ BT maintains 2024 outlook after Q2 core profit beat
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 2 (Reuters) - BT Group (BT.L), Britain's biggest broadband and mobile provider, posted second quarter earnings slightly ahead of forecasts putting it on track to meet 2024 guidance, in one of the outgoing CEO's final announcements. Strong cost controls helped BT post a 3% rise in adjusted core profit (EBITDA) to 2.06 billion pounds ($2.51 billion) for the three months to the end of September, beating the 2.03 billion pounds consensus forecast. "These results show that BT Group is delivering and on target: we're rapidly building and connecting customers to our next generation networks, we're simplifying our products and services," Jansen said in a statement on Thursday. The quarterly result meant BT maintained its outlook to grow revenue and profits for its current 2024 financial year, and the group said it expected free cash flow towards the top end of its 1 billion to 1.2 billion pound range. ($1 = 0.8215 pounds)Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru and Sarah Young in London; Editing by Savio D'Souza and James DaveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Allison Kirkby, Sweden's, Philip Jansen, Jansen, Yadarisa, Sarah Young, Savio D'Souza, James Davey Organizations: BT, Britain's, Sweden's Telia, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, London

☆ Telecoms giant BT Group appoints Allison Kirkby as CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Kirby has previously served as president and CEO of Swedish telecoms provider Telia, with experience at Virgin Media and Denmark's TDC. She has been a member of the BT Group board for the past four years. His legacy includes BT's push to build a national fibre network, offering discounted wholesale fibre pricing to major broadband providers in exchange for shifting customers to the grid. U.K. telecoms regulator Ofcom in May ruled that BT subsidiary Openreach's Equinox 2 wholesale pricing scheme was allowed. "Based on the evidence available to us, we don't consider Openreach's new pricing discounts to be anti-competitive," Ofcom said at the time.

Persons: Allison Kirkby, Philip Jansen, Kirby, Jansen Organizations: BT Group, Telia, Virgin Media, TDC, BT, Ofcom, Openreach's

☆ New BT boss’s biggest test is investor relations
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, July 31 (Reuters Breakingviews) - BT’s (BT.L) board faced the challenge of hiring a new CEO willing to implement a turnaround strategy decided by their predecessor. It has solved that problem by appointing one of its own members, Allison Kirkby, to the post vacated by outgoing Philip Jansen. Shares in the Swedish telco sank 4% on news of her departure, suggesting Telia’s loss is a gain for BT. Kirkby won’t take over until January 2024 but, having sat on BT’s board for more than four years, she should be able to hit the road running. Keeping these two investors on her side will be the real test for Kirkby at BT.

Persons: Allison Kirkby, Philip Jansen ., Swedish telco, Kirkby won’t, Patrick Drahi’s, Jansen, Pierre Briançon, Liam Proud, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Telia Company, BT, Kirkby, Deutsche Telekom, Twitter, Soaring, of Japan, Thomson Locations: Swedish, Kirkby

☆ BT reiterates 2024 outlook on cost control and broadband demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

BT Group, Britain's biggest broadband and mobile provider, reiterated its full-year outlook on Thursday as cost control and demand for broadband helped to offset inflationary pressures. The group said its adjusted core earnings rose 5% in the first quarter to 2 billion pounds ($2.6 billion), in line with analyst forecasts. Jansen said this month he would step down within the next year, a couple of years before the completion of his ambitious full-fibre roll-out. Its shares are down 30% in the last year as the cost of building out new fibre and 5G networks, and the hit to free cash flow, weighed on the business. BT said its Openreach network division was now 44% of the way through its full fibre build, with total fibre connections growing to 3.5 million.

Persons: We've, Philip Jansen, Jansen Organizations: BT

SummaryCompanies BT boss who spearheaded fibre roll-out to step downJansen simplified former monopoly, retreated from sportsShares nearly halved under his tenureLONDON, July 10 (Reuters) - BT (BT.L) Chief Executive Philip Jansen will step down within the next year, having set plans in motion for Britain's biggest telecoms provider to cut jobs, become leaner and complete the roll-out of a national fibre network. Jansen had informed BT's board of directors that he plans to leave at "an appropriate moment" within the next 12 months, BT said on Monday. Since early 2019, Jansen has steered BT through a crucial period in its 177-year-history, secured funding for a national fibre network for 25 million homes and businesses and handled the arrival of billionaire investor Patrick Drahi on the shareholder register. "We suspect investors will find this transition a little premature given the fruits of BT's fibre investments have still yet to be proven out," analysts at J.P.Morgan wrote in a client note. Analysts named BT's consumer brands boss Marc Allera and Allison Kirkby, a BT board member and chief executive of Sweden's Telia, as possible successors.

Persons: Jansen, Philip Jansen, BT's, Patrick Drahi, J.P.Morgan, Adam Crozier, Marc Allera, Allison Kirkby, Sweden's, Sarah Young, Kate Holton, Sharon Singleton Organizations: BT, Britain's, Discovery, Deutsche Telekom, Ofcom, Thomson Locations: France, United States, Portugal, Israel

☆ BT CEO Jansen plans to step down over the next 12 months
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, July 10 (Reuters) - Britain's BT (BT.L) said on Monday it had started the hunt for a new chief executive after Philip Jansen told the board he planned to step down at "an appropriate moment" within the next year. He also recently set out his longer-term vision for BT, saying it could cut potentially over 40% of its workforce once it has completed the fibre rollout and adapted to new technologies such as artificial intelligence. "This is creating a much stronger BT Group which is starting to drive growth for both investors and the UK." Jansen, a former boss of Worldpay, took over at the top of BT in February 2019. "The succession process to replace Philip is something that the board was well prepared for," Chairman Adam Crozier said.

Persons: Philip Jansen, Jansen, Patrick Drahi, " Jansen, Worldpay, Philip, Adam Crozier, Sarah Young, Kate Holton, Sachin Ravikumar Organizations: BT, Thomson

☆ BT CEO pay to be frozen until retirement - Sky News
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 7 (Reuters) - BT Group's (BT.L) CEO Philip Jansen is to freeze his salary of 1.1 million pounds ($1.4 million) until he retires from Britain's largest telecoms group, Sky News reported on Wednesday. The BT Group chief's base pay will be maintained at the level it was set when he joined the company in 2019 and is expected to be published in the telecoms group's annual report due Thursday, according to Sky News. Jansen's annual salary had been fixed for five years upon assuming the role in 2019, which would have expired this year. His salary was to be renewed on a rolling basis until he eventually left the company, said a source to Sky News. BT Group did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Persons: Philip Jansen, Patrick Drahi, Shreyaa Narayanan, Krishna Chandra Organizations: BT, Sky News, BT Group chief's, Franco, BT Group, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Nearly 4,000 people lost their jobs last month because of AI — the first time that's been cited as a reason, one report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

About 3,900 people lost their jobs because of artificial intelligence in May, a new report found. It's the first time AI is listed as a cause in Challenger, Gray, and Christmas's monthly report. It's the latest piece of evidence that AI will disrupt a significant number of jobs. Some 3,900 of the over 80,000 job cuts that took place in May were attributed to AI, the report found. Outside of the pandemic, the start of 2023 has produced the worst layoff numbers since the 820,000 layoffs that took place to start 2009, per the Challenger report.

Persons: Gray, Britney Nguyen, Tessa, Philip Jansen, Amy Organizations: Morning, Challenger, Google, Disorder, BT Locations: Challenger, British

☆ Telco tycoons’ UK bets look stuck underwater
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Pamela Barbaglia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Set those complications aside, however, and his stake-building may have cost about 4.2 billion pounds overall since 2021. That’s according to Breakingviews calculations which use the share price from the day before each stake increase became public. The holding is now worth 3.6 billion pounds, implying a nearly 560 million pound or 13% loss. That’s mild compared with some of Vodafone’s investors. But UK consolidation would hardly move the needle as Vodafone is haggling to retain control of the merged entity.

☆ BT is cutting 55,000 jobs. Its CEO says AI could replace 10,000 of those by 2030.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

British telecommunications giant BT said it will cut between 40,000 and 55,000 jobs by 2030. British telecommunications giant BT Group said it's planning to cut as many as 55,000 jobs by 2030 — and at least 10,000 of those jobs could be replaced by some form of artificial intelligence. BT Group CEO Philip Jansen said on an earnings call that the company will be a "beneficiary of AI — unequivocally," according to CNN. Jansen estimated that about 10,000 of the jobs BT will eliminate can be replaced by processes of "digitization and automation," like AI replacements. Now there's also a little research indicating how workers, particularly those in customer service, are interacting with such tools.

☆ BT to cut up to 55,000 jobs by 2030 as fibre and AI arrive
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Paul Sandle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

By that time, the bulk of its full-fibre network build will be completed. But free cash flow (FCF) fell 5% to 1.3 billion pounds, at the lower end of its guidance, due to increased cash capital expenditure. Forecasts for free cash flow for 2024 were also lighter than analysts had expected. It has been investing heavily to build out its fibre network faster than rival Virgin Media O2 and smaller "alt nets". BT said it expected to grow both revenue and core earnings on a pro forma basis this year.

☆ BT to reduce workforce by up to 55,000 jobs by 2030
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - BT Group (BT.L), Britain's biggest broadband and mobile provider, said on Thursday it would reduce its workforce by up to 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade to become a much leaner business. The announcement came after it met market expectations with a 5% rise in full-year adjusted core earnings of 7.9 billion pounds ($10 billion) after growth in networks and consumer offset a decline in enterprise. "New BT Group will be a leaner business with a brighter future," he said. He said BT had grown both pro forma revenue and core earnings for the first time in six years in the year to end-March, while navigating an "extraordinary macro-economic backdrop". The group said it expected to grow both revenue and core earnings on a pro forma basis this year.

☆ BT jobs: Company will shed as many as 55,000 workers by 2030
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

London CNN —BT Group is planning to slash up to 55,000 jobs in the next five to seven years as it makes greater use of technology to cut costs and simplify its business. The UK telecom company said Thursday that its total workforce would fall to between 75,000 and 90,000 by 2028-2030, from 130,000 at present. “New BT Group will be a leaner business with a brighter future.”Earlier this week, Vodafone (VOD), once the world’s biggest mobile telecom group, said it would cut 11,000 jobs, or about 11% of its workforce, over three years. The company also unveiled a turnaround plan to revive its ailing fortunes under new CEO Margherita Della Valle. Its adjusted earnings rose 5% to £7.9 billion ($9.8 billion).

☆ British telecom giant BT to cut up to 55,000 jobs by 2030
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON — U.K. telecommunications giant BT Group said Thursday it will cut between 40,000 to 55,000 of its workforce between 2028 and 2030. The layoffs, which will include both direct BT employees and third-party workers, will mark a 31-42% reduction in company staffing. New BT Group will be a leaner business with a brighter future," BT Chief Executive Philip Jansen said in a statement. BT's last large-scale workforce reduction saw the company announce in 2018 that it would slash 13,000 posts over a three-year period. BT shares were down 8% by 9:30 a.m. London time.

☆ BT’s miss may spur big investors into action
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, May 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Trumpeting massive job cuts is usually one way to boost a share price. The 14 billion pound telco said on Thursday it would shed 55,000 jobs over the next seven years, but shares slumped 8%. That will stretch the patience of Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE) and Patrick Drahi’s Altice, which collectively control 30% of the UK group. The catch for Drahi and Höttges is that it’s not obvious what they should demand to reinvigorate BT’s share price. Still, if the two bigwigs decide to join forces, BT’s job cuts may yet move up to the company’s C-suite.

☆ UK's Ofcom delays BT fibre pricing decision after CEO remarks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Paul Sandle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Rivals such as Virgin Media O2 and alternative fibre providers known as altnets are investing billions of pounds to build competing networks. 'SIGNIFICANT CONCERN'But comments made by BT Chief Executive Philip Jansen to the Financial Times - headlined "BT chief warns Openreach fibre push will 'end in tears' for rivals" - caused "significant concern", Ofcom said. Ofcom chief Melanie Dawes said in a letter to Jansen, published on Friday, that the regulator was committed to network competition. "They must question why BT Group is reducing its wholesale charges whilst increasing the prices that consumers pay for broadband," INCA said. BT's earlier wholesale pricing, Equinox, was challenged by altnet CityFibre, but Ofcom decided not to intervene.

☆ Britain's BT combines two units in $122 mln cost savings drive
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BT is aiming to take fibre broadband to 25 million premises by 2026 in a race with rival Virgin Media O2 and smaller alternative networks. The company said the new unit BT Business would be formed by putting together its Global and Enterprise divisions and would be led by Bas Burger, the current CEO of BT's Global unit. Philip Jansen, BT's chief executive, said that the new structure would benefit corporate customers by improving innovation and delivery. The 100 million pounds of savings would come from combining the management teams, support functions, product portfolios and systems of the two units. ($1 = 0.8197 pounds)Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Kate HoltonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UK extends deadline to remove Huawei from 5G networks after one carrier warned of outages
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON — The U.K. government extended a deadline for telecom companies to remove equipment from Chinese tech giant Huawei from their 5G mobile networks. They will still need to ban new Huawei 5G installments and completely eliminate it from their networks by the end of 2027. The order was enshrined in law last year with a piece of legislation called the Telecoms Security Act. Previously, telecoms groups like BT and Vodafone had been told to remove Huawei 5G equipment from their "core" by January 2023. Today I'm using these powers and making it a legal requirement for Huawei to be removed from 5G networks by 2027."

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