Gold bars to be exempt from tariffs, White House clarifies
Investing.com -- BT Group Plc (LON:BT) shares traded lower on Thursday following its second-half fiscal 2025 results that largely met expectations but showed slight misses in revenue and EBITDA.
The company also raised its capital expenditure forecast amid ongoing competitive pressures.
Group revenue for the fourth quarter totaled £5.05 billion, down 0.6% year over year and missing the company consensus by 0.3% and Morgan Stanley’s estimate by 0.7%.
Adjusted EBITDA reached £1.97 billion, representing a 0.9% shortfall versus consensus.
Free cash flow for the second half stood at £883 million, surpassing company guidance by 9% and Barclays’ forecast by 5%, supported by favorable working capital movements and slightly reduced capital expenditure.
While revenue decline slowed to 2% year over year from a 3% drop in the third quarter, the financial results reflected modest underperformance. EBITDA remained flat year over year, down from 4% growth in the prior quarter.
BT’s Consumer division recorded 4,000 broadband net additions, marking its first positive reading in several years.
However, total service revenue in the segment remained flat, and mobile subscriber losses increased to 8,000.
The Business segment saw a 10% year-over-year decline in EBITDA and no revenue growth.
Openreach reported 243,000 broadband line losses for the quarter, consistent with expectations and an annualized rate of roughly 900,000.
Capital expenditure for fiscal 2026 is now expected to reach £5 billion, approximately £100 million above consensus estimates.
The increase supports an accelerated full-fiber rollout target of 5 million premises, up from 4.3 million in fiscal 2025. The company expects to partially offset this with £100 million in copper asset sales.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) described the capital expenditure outlook as a “modest shortfall” compared with expectations.
The company’s free cash flow guidance of £1.5 billion implies a 3% miss relative to consensus.