BT 9M Profit Down, Sees Weak FY22 Adj. Revenue; In Talks With Discovery For New Sports JV In UK

(RTTNews) - BT Group PLC (BT_A.L, BT) reported Thursday that its nine-month profit before tax was 1.54 billion pounds, down 3 percent from 1.59 billion pounds a year ago.

Profit after tax declined 31 percent to 886 million pounds from prior year's 1.28 billion pounds.

Adjusted EBITDA 5.71 billion pounds, up 2 percent, driven by tight cost management, lower indirect commissions and higher revenue from Ethernet and fibre-enabled product. These were partly offset by declining revenue in Global and Enterprise.

Revenue fell 2 percent to 15.68 billion pounds from last year's 16.06 billion pounds hurt by challenges due to delayed Covid-19 recovery and supply chain issues.

Adjusted revenue was down 3 percent.

Looking ahead for fiscal 2022, group adjusted revenue is now expected to be down around 2 percent as a result of Covid-19 and supply chain issues. All other outlook metrics remain unchanged.

Separately, BT Group announced that it has entered exclusive discussions with Discovery, Inc. (DISCK, DISCA) on a deal to create a new sport and entertainment offering for customers in the UK.

The new joint venture between BT Sport and Eurosport UK would be a 50/50 joint venture. The combined business would remain committed to retaining BT Sport's existing major sports broadcast rights while BT Sport customers would get access to Discovery's sport and entertainment content, including the discovery+ app.

BT Group plans to conclude the exclusive discussions with Discovery in early first quarter for the new company to be operational later this year, subject to completion of the deal and approval by the relevant competition authorities.