Britain's BT nudges up earnings guidance after challenging 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. Chief Executive Philip Jansen said the performance had given it 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 forecast earnings of at least 7.9 billion pounds for 2022/23.

"This growth will be driven by the continued recovery from COVID-19, enhanced by sales of our converged and growth products, and by significant savings from our modernisation and cost saving programme," he said. "In combination these factors will more than offset legacy product declines."

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