BT to Cut 13,000 Jobs in U.K., UniCredit Reports Best Quarter in a Decade

Sarla Buch
10 May, 2018
New York City

BT plunged after weaker-than-anticipated quarterly results and telecom group said it plans to eliminate 13,000 jobs and plans to leave its London headquarter. The retailer Next Plc lifted fiscal sales and profit outlook. UniCredit reported record quarterly results in a decade.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – BT plunged after weaker-than-anticipated quarterly results and telecom group said it plans to eliminate 13,000 jobs and plans to leave its London headquarter. The retailer Next Plc lifted fiscal sales and profit outlook. UniCredit reported record quarterly results in a decade.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index increased 23.64 or 0.3% to 7,686.61 and in Frankfurt the DAX index gained 29.48 or 0.3% to 12,973.38.

In Paris, CAC 40 index edged down 2.38 to 5,533.10.

BT Group Plc plunged 7.9% to 219.40 pence after the U.K.-based telecom services provider reported revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in March declined 3% from a year ago to £5.9 billion.

Net profit in the quarter surged 90% to £722 million from £380 million in a year ago period and diluted earnings per share jumped to 7.2 pence from 3.8 pence.

BT said today that to drive sustainable long term growth in value, the company plans to eliminate 13,000 managerial and back-office jobs at a total cost of £800 million and plans to hire 6,000 employees for the deployment of network and customer service.

BT also agreed a new 13-year funding plan for its pension, which had a deficit of £11.3 billion at the end of June 2017.

The telecom services provider forecasted fiscal 2019 revenues to drop 2% and operating profit between £7.3 billion and £7.4 billion and capital expenditure of about £3.7 billion.

Next Plc surged 7.2% to 5,624 pence after the U.K.-based apparel, footwear and home products retailer reported sales in the first-quarter ending in March jumped 6%, online sales soared 18.1% but retail sales declined 4.8%.

The retailer lifted fiscal 2019 sales growth forecast by about 2.2% from the earlier estimate of 1% and pretax profit to jump £717 million from the earlier estimate of £705 million and earnings per share growth of about 3.7% from the earlier estimate of 1.4%.

UniCredit SpA gained 1.5% to €17.80 after Italy-based banking and financial services provider said group total revenues in the first-quarter ending in March rose 0.1% from a year ago to €5.1 billion.

Net profit in the quarter jumped 22.6% to €1.1 billion from €907 million in a year ago period.

""""UniCredit''s 2018 first quarter results, the best first quarter in more than a decade, were driven by a continued strong commercial dynamic throughout the Group,” said chief executive officer Jean Pierre Mustier.