Results for the half year to30 September 2022
BT Group plc
03 November 2022
| Philip Jansen, Chief Executive, commenting on the results, said”BT Group remains on the front foot in these turbulent times. Our strategy is working, we’re executing against our plan and we’re confident that we’ll deliver our long-term ambition while underpinning economic growth in the UK.”Our financial performance is on track; we grew revenue and EBITDA in the first six months of the year and we remain laser focused on modernising and simplifying BT Group. Given the current high inflationary environment, including significantly increased energy prices, we need to take additional action on our costs to maintain the cash flow needed to support our network investments. As a result, we are increasing our cost savings target from £2.5bn to £3.0bn by the end of FY25.”High-quality connectivity has never been more important for our customers and our products provide great value for money.”We continue to drive ahead with our strategy designed to deliver consistent and predictable revenue and EBITDA growth, expand cash flow and underpin our progressive dividend policy over the longer-term.” |
Key strategic developments:
• We are firmly on track in delivering our strategy despite short-term macroeconomic pressures; we are investing to sustain network leadership, improving customer experience and reducing our costs to strengthen our competitive position
• FTTP build passed 8.8m premises, including 2.8m in rural areas, with initial build underway on a further 6m premises; weekly build rate averaging 62k premises in Q2
• FTTP connections ahead of plan; Q2 net adds of 331k with total take up of 27%
• Openreach broadband base down 89k in Q2 (Q2 FY22: net adds of 29k) due to reduced broadband market growth and c.40k impact from industrial action, with competitor churn in line with our expectations; average monthly rental ARPU grew by c.£1 year on year due to continued increase in fibre-enabled broadband
• Openreach reviewing wholesale pricing to accelerate migration to FTTP
• EE’s 5G network continues to grow with 5G deployed in nearly all UK major towns and cities
• Completed Sports JV to create one of the most extensive portfolios of premium sports in the UK
• Delivered gross annualised cost savings of £1.7bn since April 2020 with total cost to achieve of £0.9bn; FY25 target increased from £2.5bn to £3.0bn in response to cost inflation, with total cost to achieve of £1.6bn
Revenue and EBITDA growth and interim dividend at 2.31pps confirmed
• Revenue£10.4bn, up1% due to growth in Consumer and Openreach partially offset by legacy declines in large corporate customers in Enterprise, lower equipment sales in Global and the impact of the BT Sport disposal
• Adjusted1 EBITDA £3.9bn, up3%due to revenue growth, continued strong cost control and some one-off items, partially offset by increased energy costs and cost inflation
• Reported profit before tax £0.8bn, down18% due to increased depreciation from network build and higher specific costs offsetting adjusted1 EBITDA growth
• Reported capital expenditure £2.6bn, up2% due to increased Openreach investments in fixed network infrastructure offsetting a decline in spectrum; capital expenditure excluding spectrum payments up 26%
• Net cash inflow from operating activities £2.9bn; normalised free cash flow1£0.1bn, down £0.3bn primarily reflecting higher cash capex partially offset by increased EBITDA and working capital movements including stronger collections and movement in sports rights
• Gross IAS 19 deficit of £1.7bn, up from £1.1bn at 31 March 2022 mainly due to the impact of higher real gilt yields partly offset by deficit contributions; BT Pension Scheme roll-forward funding deficit was £4.4bn at end of June 2022, and not adversely impacted by gilt market volatility in late September
• FY23 capex outlook revised from c.£4.8bn to c.£5.0bn due to higher fibre connections and inflation, enabled by a £0.2bn tax refund in October; capex in subsequent years will be c.£4.8bn over remainder of the peak fibre build
• Normalised free cash flow1 expected to outturn towards the lower end of the £1.3bn-£1.5bn range
• Interim dividend of 2.31 pence per share in line with our policy
1 See Glossary on page 3
| Half year to 30 September | 2022 | 2021 | Change |
| Reported measures | £m | £m | % |
| Revenue | 10,366 | 10,305 | 1 |
| Profit before tax | 831 | 1,009 | (18) |
| Profit after tax | 893 | 431 | 107 |
| Basic earnings per share | 9.1p | 4.4p | 107 |
| Net cash inflow from operating activities | 2,911 | 2,394 | 22 |
| Half year dividend | 2.31p | 2.31p | – |
| Capital expenditure | 2,613 | 2,563 | 2 |
| Adjusted measures | |||
| Adjusted1 Revenue | 10,368 | 10,308 | 1 |
| Adjusted1 EBITDA | 3,873 | 3,748 | 3 |
| Adjusted1 basic earnings per share | 10.0p | 10.2p | (2) |
| Normalised free cash flow1 | 64 | 360 | (82) |
| Capital expenditure excluding spectrum | 2,613 | 2,067 | 26 |
| Net debt1,2 | 19,042 | 18,241 | £801m |
Customer-facing unit updates
| Adjusted1 revenue | Adjusted1 EBITDA | Normalised free cash flow1 | |||||||
| Half year to 30 September | 2022 | 2021 | Change | 2022 | 2021 | Change | 2022 | 2021 | Change |
| £m | £m | % | £m | £m | % | £m | £m | % | |
| Consumer | 4,992 | 4,857 | 3 | 1,295 | 1,077 | 20 | 460 | 525 | (12) |
| Enterprise | 2,439 | 2,572 | (5) | 660 | 852 | (23) | 112 | 327 | (66) |
| Global | 1,617 | 1,654 | (2) | 197 | 207 | (5) | (128) | (63) | (103) |
| Openreach | 2,836 | 2,707 | 5 | 1,711 | 1,561 | 10 | 53 | 8 | n/m |
| Other | 14 | 14 | – | 10 | 51 | (80) | (433) | (437) | 1 |
| Intra-group items | (1,530) | (1,496) | (2) | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Total | 10,368 | 10,308 | 1 | 3,873 | 3,748 | 3 | 64 | 360 | (82) |
| Second quarter to 30 September | 2022 | 2021 | Change | 2022 | 2021 | Change | 2022 | 2021 | Change |
| £m | £m | % | £m | £m | % | £m | £m | % | |
| Consumer | 2,490 | 2,475 | 1 | 670 | 554 | 21 | |||
| Enterprise | 1,239 | 1,285 | (4) | 345 | 423 | (18) | |||
| Global | 843 | 869 | (3) | 101 | 105 | (4) | |||
| Openreach | 1,419 | 1,360 | 4 | 860 | 788 | 9 | |||
| Other | 7 | 6 | 17 | (6) | 12 | (150) | |||
| Intra-group items | (763) | (757) | (1) | – | – | – | |||
| Total | 5,235 | 5,238 | – | 1,970 | 1,882 | 5 | 269 | 403 | (33) |
1 See Glossary on page 3
2 Net debt was £18,009m at 31 March 2022
n/m = not meaningful