Bt, disappointing accounts: collapses on the London Stock Exchange. Cleaver on staff, it will cut 55,000 jobs by 2030

After the announcement of Vodafone (which will cut 11,000 jobs), BT also announces a maxi-plan to downsize personnel: 55,000 people will be cut by 2028-2030, around 50% of the current 139,000 people who work in the TLC company British.

The announcement comes on a delicate day for BT on the London Stock Exchange, where investors have decidedly poorly received the annual results of the Tlc group and indications for the current year, accompanied precisely by the announcement of massive cuts. Mid morning shares of the UK’s leading broadband provider lose 8% on the City Stock Exchange, at the lowest level for three months, moreover on an overall positive day for share lists.

BT ended the year to 31 March 2023 with revenues of £20.7 billion, down 1% and pre-tax profit of £1.7 billion (-12%), while net income rose to 1.9 billion (from 1.2 billion), mainly thanks to ‘super deductions’ linked to the sale of BT Sport, which brought the effective tax rate on profits to -10.2% from 35% in 2022. The market is disappointed in particular by pre-tax profit, which was significantly below expectations of $1.92 billion and weak free cash flow, which at an adjusted level was $1.3 billion, down 5%. motivated with the investments for the construction of the Openreach fiber network.

Just the project of replacement of a large part of the BTP network, slower and copper-based, with high-speed connections to reach 25 million homes by the end of 2026 is absorbing a lot of resources, including human resources. Once finished, there will therefore be cuts. As regards personnel, in fact, “by the end of the decade BT Group will be based on a much smaller workforce and a significantly reduced cost base. The new BT Group will be a leaner company with a better future” , he has declared CEO Philip Jansen, noting that “over the past four years, the group has stuck closely to the strategy and it works”. The company’s workforce will decline to 75,000-90,000 people by the fiscal year ending March 2030. As recalled by the BloombergJansen is cutting costs to address the industry slump that sees telecom carriers investing heavily in their networks.

Since April 2020 the group has achieved approx £1.2bn of savings towards the £3bn target by 2025. BT also said it was aiming for £1bn to £1.2bn in 2024 cash flow and £5bn to £5.1bn in annual investment in 2024-2026 to accelerate fiber connections. According to operators, capital expenditure is higher than expected, while cash flow is lower than market expectations.