LONDON (Reuters) – BT, Britain’s biggest broadband and mobile operator, increased its savings target by 500 million pounds to help fund the rising cost of building its fibre network as it met earnings forecasts in the first half.
“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,” Chief Executive Philip Jansen said on Thursday.
“As a result, we are increasing our cost savings target from 2.5 billion pounds to 3.0 billion pounds by the end of financial year 2025.”
BT said growth in its consumer and Openreach networks arm offset lower spending by large corporate customers and the impact of its BT Sport disposal delivered a 1% rise in adjusted revenue to 10.4 billion pounds ($11.8 billion) for the six months to end-September.
Adjusted core earnings rose 3% to 3.9 billion pounds, helped by strong cost controls in an increasingly inflationary environment, it said.
($1 = 0.8800 pounds)
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Sarah Young)
