BT Group's third quarter revenues rise as restructure unveiled

BT Group’s third quarter revenues have risen 3%, leaving the company’s year-to-date revenues flat.

In a results released on Monday, the company said revenue for the three months to 31 December 2015 was £4.59bn, with revenue for the nine months at £13.25bn.

Reported profit before tax also rose 24% for the quarter, up to £862m, and year to date profit up 18% to £2.14bn.

Chief executive Gavin Patterson said it was a strong set of results.

"BT Consumer had a standout quarter, increasing its overall line base for the first time in well over a decade and capturing 71% of new broadband customers.

“Good customer growth in broadband, TV and mobile helped to grow ARPU by 7%,” he said

Patterson also highlighted BT Global Services also did well with good revenue growth in continental Europe and Asia.

He said Openreach is also doing well. “Fibre is underpinning the growth at Openreach with almost half a million premises taking up the service this quarter via dozens of service providers.

“The fibre market is highly competitive and growing all the time, which is great news for the UK economy.”

The FTSE 100 company also announced a new organisational structure following the acquisition of EE, a brand which it said will be retained.

It will see the business focus on six lines of business – Consumer, EE, Business and Public Sector, Global Services, Wholesale and Ventures, Openreach.

All six divisions will be supported by BT’s Technology, Service and Operations, which is currently responsible for BT's 'core' networks in the UK and overseas, its IT platforms and its global Research and Development arm.

Consumer will focus on broadband, telephony, TV and mobile services, while EE will focus largely on the consumer market, retaining its brand, its network and its hundreds of high street stores.

The Business and Public Sector, which is a new division with around £5bn of revenues will be comprised of the existing BT Business along with EE's business division and parts of BT Global Services that are UK focused.

Wholesale and Ventures will be expanded to include EE's mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business as well as some specialist businesses such as Fleet, Payphones and Directories.

Openreach is unaffected in the restructure. Patterson said the acquisition of EE provides BT Group with a chance to refresh its structure.

“We have done that by creating a major new division that will focus on businesses and the public sector in the UK and Ireland.

“We want to support those sectors by offering customers the very best services whether that be dedicated private lines, network products such as fibre broadband, mobile solutions, IT services or cyber expertise to keep them safe.”

The changes take effect from April.