Partner Article

BT witness sales decline

BT have witnessed a fall in sales during Q1, following difficult conditions in Europe and the financial services sector.

Shares at the firm fell nearly 12 months after it was announced that BT had witnessed a drop in sales. Revenues declined by 6% to £4.48 billion.

This hit BT’s global services the hardest, who provide web and phone services to international companies. The division saw a 9% decline in sales over the year.

Despite news that sales had dipped, pre-tax profits rose by 13% to £584 million following high levels of cost cutting.

Ian Livingston, BT chief executive, said: “We have delivered another quarter of profit growth and the 11th consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings per share growth, although our quarterly cash flow was impacted by the timing of working capital movements.

The 2013 outlook now remains unchanged, and BT have forecast an improved trend in underlying revenue excluding transit fees. Quarterly revenues had also fallen by 3.2% excluding transit fees, which is the payment BT receives from carrying the traffic of other operators.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .