Better-than-expected third quarter numbers and a management overhaul saw telecoms giant BT's (LON:BT.A) share price rise in a falling market on Monday.
Underlying earnings (EBITDA) in the three months to 31 December rose 3%, versus expectations of a 1% increase, to £1.1bn.
Adjusted profit before tax rose 14% from the year before to £928mln on the back of a 4.7% rise in underlying revenue to £4.59bn. Analysts had been expecting a 2% rise in the top line.
“Revenue was up 4.7% this quarter, our best result for more than seven years. We are making good progress towards our goal of sustainable profitable revenue growth,” claimed Gavin Patterson, BT's chief executive.
The Consumer division has a “stand-out quarter”, according to Patterson, seeing good growth in broadband, TV and mobile services that drove a 7% year-on-year increase in average revenue per user.
Having completed its acquisition of mobile phone business EE, the company has announced a new structure to take effect from April.
Under the new structure there will be six lines of business: Consumer; EE; Business and Public Sector; Global Services; Wholesale and Ventures; Openreach.
The six divisions will be supported by Technology, Service and Operations (TSO) which is currently responsible for BT's 'core' networks in the UK and overseas, its information technology platforms and its global Research and Development arm.
Howard Watson will head the TSO division, replacing Clive Selley.
"We will operate a multi brand strategy with UK customers being able to choose a mix of BT, EE or Plusnet services, depending on which suit them best. The acquisition enables us to offer great value bundles of services and customers are set to be the winners as we compete for their business,” Patterson said.
“Management reiterated that they expect the EE acquisition to deliver the anticipated cost and revenue synergies, and notes that the business has been restructured to six new divisions following the EE acquisition. The outlook for the group for the current year was reaffirmed,” noted wealth management firm Killik, which said it remains positive on BT Group as a play on the increased demand for high speed data connections, driven by increased bandwidth requirements of streaming video.
The shares were up 2.1% at 495p in lunchtime trading, despite the FTSE 100 being down 1.3%.