Britain's BT nudges up earnings guidance after resilient first half

BT, Britain's biggest fixed-line and mobile operator, said it had delivered a strong operational performance in the first half given the challenges of COVID-19 as it raised the lower limit of its earnings guidance for the year. The company on Thursday reported an 8% drop in revenue to 10.59 billion pounds ($13.8 billion) and a 5% fall in adjusted earnings to 3.72 billion pounds, broadly in line with expectations.

It said the performance had given it the confidence to raise the lower end of its earnings outlook for the year from 7.2 billion pounds to 7.3 billion pounds, with the upper end staying at 7.5 billion pounds, and publish an earnings expectation of at least 7.9 billion pounds for 2022/23.