30th Oct 2014 07:19
LONDON (Alliance News) - BT Group PLC Thursday raised its interim dividend by 15%, after reporting strong growth in profits, buoyed by growth in BT Sport subscribers and its fibre broadband operations and due to cost cutting.
The company reported a pretax profit of GBP1.11 billion for the six months to September 30, up from GBP948 million a year earlier, even though revenue declined to GBP8.74 billion, from GBP8.94 billion. Its pretax profit in the fiscal second quarter rose to GBP690 million, from GBP609 million a year earlier, even though revenue fell to GBP4.38 billion, from GBP4.49 billion.
Chief Executive Gavin Patterson said the results were slightly ahead of market expectations, driven by reduced costs and higher operating earnings.
"Our Consumer business continues to perform well thanks to the impact of BT Sport where Premier League audiences are up around 45% on average. Fibre is also driving growth with one in three of our retail broadband customers enjoying super-fast speeds," he said in a statement.
BT raised its interim dividend by 15% to 3.9 pence on the back of the profit increase, and as it reaffirmed its outlook.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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