BT beats profit forecasts for first quarter and confirms outlook

BT got off to an encouraging start to its financial year, with profits beating market expectations helped by a healthy contribution from the continuing integration of mobile arm EE since January's acquisition.

On revenue up 35% to £5.78bn in the three months to 30 June, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 25% to £1.82bn, ahead of the consensus analyst estimates of £1.78bn.

Adjusted pre-tax profit of £802m was up 16% on the same period last year and also beat the £729m City consensus, with earnings per share down 1% to 6.6p.

"We've made a good start to the year," said chief executive Gavin Patterson, "with growth in revenue and strong cash flow. We're on track to deliver our full year outlook."

He said the integration of EE was "progressing well", contributing £1.2bn revenue, £281m EBITDA and £187m of free cash flow out of the £448m total.

With BT’s fibre broadband is available to more than 25m premises and take-up remained good, with 79% share of broadband net additions at a retail level.

BT Sport, which is available to EE pay monthly customers and may be behind the record low EE churn in the quarter, renewed its FA Cup rights during the quarter and will also be showing more games from the Premier League at a much better time slot, as it kicks off in just two weeks, with exclusive coverage of the Champions League and Europa League for another season.

"Our investment plans remain central to our future and so we will be rolling out further fibre in the coming months, as well as 4G through the Emergency Services Network contract,” Patterson said. “Our aim is to make these services as universally available as we can, whilst also deploying a new generation of ultrafast broadband.”