(RTTNews) - British telecommunications group BT Group Plc (BT-A.L,BT: News ) reported Thursday an increase in net profit for the second quarter, boosted by a specific tax credit, while pre-tax profit dropped 44% from last year, hurt by lower revenues. Further, the company raised its full-year forecast for revenue, expecting lower decline than projected earlier. BT Group also declared a lower interim dividend, but said it expects to increase full-year dividend by around 5%.

Net profit for the quarter was GBP 428 million or 5.4 pence per share, higher than last year's 378 million or 4.9 pence per share. The company said its prior year results were restated for the impact of customer account moves and internal trading model changes.

The latest quarter results included a gain on specific items of GBP 141 million or 1.8 pence per share, while prior year's results included a charge of GBP 28 million or 0.4 pence per share.

The specific items for this year's second quarter included, among other charges and gains, a GBP 52 million revenue provision for regulatory settlement, a tax credit in respect of settlement of prior tax years of GBP 215 million and BT Global Services restructuring charges of GBP 49 million.

Before specific items, profit for the quarter fell to GBP 287 million or 3.6 pence per share from GBP 406 million or 5.2 pence per share last year.

The second quarter results also included leaver costs of 0.2 pence per share and net interest expense on pensions of 0.6 pence per share, while last year's results included leaver costs of 0.4 pence per share and net interest income on pensions of 0.8 pence per share.
On an adjusted basis, excluding specific items, leaver costs and net interest on pensions, earnings decreased 8% to 4.5 pence from 4.9 pence in the previous year, largely due to the higher depreciation and amortization expense.

Second-quarter profit before tax fell 44% to GBP 275 million from GBP 494 million a year earlier. Pre-tax profit, before specific items, was GBP 370 million, down from GBP 532 million in 2009, and adjusted pre-tax profit declined 6% to GBP 461 million from GBP 490 million a year ago.

Total revenue for the quarter declined to GBP 5.07 billion from GBP 5.303 billion in the previous year. Before specific items, quarterly revenues were GBP 5.122 billion, down 3% from last year's GBP 5.303 billion, while underlying revenue, excluding foreign exchange movements and acquisitions, fell 6% partly reflecting the challenging market conditions.

To receive FREE breaking news email alerts for BT Group PLC and others in your portfolio

 1   2   3   Next Page