TV and high-speed broadband drive BT revenues

TV and high-speed broadband drive BT revenues

   Editor
   | 05 May 2016


In a year that has been marked by its acquisition not only of rival EE but also of rights to broadcast the Champions League in the UK, BT has posted strong results for its 2015/2016 financial year.

BT 5 May 2016For the year ended 31 March 2016, the UK incumbent telco reported revenues of £18.909 billion, up a healthy 6% year-on-year and driven mainly by a very robust fourth quarter of the year where revenues soared 22% annually to hit £5.656 billion. These were the drivers of profit before tax for the year of EBITDA of £1.145 billion for the quarter and £3.473 billion for the year respectively, rises of 11% and 9%.

Examining where growth was most generated, BT says that its performance was mainly driven by BT Consumer, where revenue was up 7%, reflecting 17% growth in broadband and TV revenue, helped by our investments in BT Sport Europe and BT Mobile. Openreach revenue was up 2% with fibre broadband growth offsetting regulatory headwinds.

At the end of the year, the BT Consumer division broke the 1.5 million TV customer barrier, an increase of 28% since the start of the year. The company expanded significantly its TV offer during the 12 months and in July 2015 launched Europe’s first live sports Ultra HD (4K) channel, BT Sport Ultra HD. BT Sport’s average daily audience figures increased 45% year-on-year, from the start of the football season in August to the end of March. For the same period, BT saw 39 match events with peak concurrent viewers of over one million. The highlight of the year was Liverpool’s much deserved triumph over arch-rivals Manchester United in the UEFA Europa League last 16 first leg clash at Anfield which generated a peak of more than two million viewers for the first time.

Commenting on the results, Gavin Patterson, BT chief executive, said: “This has been a landmark year for BT. We’ve completed our acquisition of EE, the UK’s best 4G mobile network provider, we’ve passed more than 25 million premises with fibre and we’ve also delivered a strong financial performance. We’ve invested across the business and are seeing good results. Our BT Sport audiences are up 45% this year following the launch of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League content.”