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BT waves goodbye to 10,000 temps and permies

Global Services blamed

BT is to cut 10,000 permanent and contractor jobs before the end of the financial year in March.

The telco, which has 160,000 staff, said 4,000 people have already left. Contractors and offshore workers are expected to bear the brunt of the cuts.

The news comes as BT posted results today for the second quarter ended 30 September. This saw revenue up four per cent to £5.3bn but profits before tax and specific items down 11 per cent to £590m.

Chief exec Ian Livingstone said: “Three out of our four business units, BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach are delivering on or ahead of target. But profits in BT Global Services are simply not good enough and we are taking decisive action to put matters right."

Last month BT announced a profit warning and the departure of Global Services boss Francois Barrault.

Livingstone said Global Services was still growing revenue, but needed to translate that into profits. He expects BT sales to grow for the full year but problems at GS would push down Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation).

For the second quarter BT Global Services revenues grew 15 per cent to £2.157bn, but made an operating loss of £53m compared to a profit of £7m in the same period last year.

BT Retail revenues were flat at £2.127bn, but operating profit grew 13 per cent to £318m. A seven per cent fall in line and call revenue was offset by a 25 per cent increase in revenue from networked IT services.

BT Wholesale continued to decline, but not as fast as in the first quarter. Revenues fell seven per cent to £1.168bn while profits fell three per cent to £148m. Broadband revenue fell £39m as a result of people moving onto unbundled lines. Managed network solutions grew 50 per cent to £108m.

BT Openreach saw revenue from other parts of BT fall slightly, but revenues from third parties grow. The division brought in £1.066bn from BT, down three per cent. External revenue by 14 per cent to £237m.

BT's statement is here. ®

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