Full year results for 2012 show that BT Global Services was able to inch into profitability with an operating profit of £3m (from a loss of £85m last year). It may not seem like much, but this is quite a milestone and represents BT GS’ first full year operating profit in five years. The improvement comes despite a revenue drop of 6% (to £7.2bn), which the company says reflects tough conditions in Europe and the financial services sector.
BT’s “cost transformation programme” is certainly having an impact with net operating costs (excluding transit costs) down 7% in the year. Work within the programme includes improving end-to-end customer service processes and making back-office functions more efficient. An operating profit of £3m on revenue of £7.2bn is of course very small and without doubt there is still considerable work to be done.
Looking at the BT Group performance more broadly, revenue for FY12 was down 3% to £18.2bn, but EBITDA improved 2% to £6.2bn. As CEO, Ian Livingston, puts it: “We have a lot more to do but we are now a lot better positioned to do it.”
We’ll bring more once we’ve been briefed on BT GS later today.