RBC trims BT Group target price

Analysts at RBC sounded a fairly upbeat note on BT Group despite the multiple calls on its cash which the company is expected to face over the next couple of years.

Its Openreach arm announced a consultation with all telecoms providers on full fibre FTTP starting summer, which the broker said would be detailed, complex and require a lot of planning.

That was in fact a positive for BT, as it would push any need for the roughly £5.0bn of capital expenditures associated with that initiative out to at least the beginning of its 2019 fiscal year.

Perfect. In the meantime, it would have more resources to deploy for pensions, a "substantial" amount of exceptionals in 2018 and accelerated tax in fiscal year 2019 associated with IFRS15.

RBC trimmed its target price from 425.0p to 415.0p while reiterating its 'outperform' recommendation on the shares.