24 July 2025
If you are covering BT’s latest financial results, please find below a comment from Matt Dorset, equity research analyst at Quilter Cheviot:
“BT’s results continue to be fairly weak but in line with expectations. UK Service revenue was down 1.4% over the year as the consumer segment continues to lag. The business division also remains the weakest division with legacy sales continuing to hurt. Consequently, earnings were down 0.5%, but ahead of consensus, as BT impresses with its cost cutting and Openreach remaining strong.
“BT’s fibre rollout continues at record pace with more than 1m homes passed in the quarter, taking the total footprint to more than 19m premises. And consumers clearly like the product with record fibre net additions of 566,000. While broadband line losses remained high, down 169,000, this is a significant improvement compared to the last few quarters and much better than expectations. A weaker broadband market and increased competitor losses continue to be blamed for line losses, but the improvement in the quarter suggests these pressures may be starting to abate.
“Positively, BT has reiterated all full year and mid-term guidance, with the drop off in capex to come as the fibre rollout slows fast approaching. BT also announced that CFO Simon Lowth will step down next year after 9 years at BT, which is unsurprising given press reports to this effect. Lowth is set to be replaced by Patricia Cobian, current CFO of VM02 who clearly knows the sector well, in 2026 in what is an ordered succession.”
