Proactive Investors - BT Group PLC (LON:BT) results look a little shy of expectations, but the dividend has been nudged higher, which may override the rest of the numbers for many investors.
New boss Allison Kirkby said that as the telco has passed the point of peak capital investment into its full-fibre broadband rollout and achieved its £3 billion cost cutting programme a year ahead of schedule, "we've now reached the inflection point on our long-term strategy".
With the plan now to more than double free cash flow over the next five years, she says this means the dividend is being hiked, well a 3.9% increase, with a final dividend of 5.69p per share making a total of 8.0p for the past year.
Kirkby has also set a new £3 billion target of gross annualised cost savings to be reached by the end of March 2029.
As for the results for the year to March 2024, revenue of £20.8 billion was up 1% on the prior year, slightly below the average City analyst's forecast of £20.9 billion as fourth-quarter revenue came in at £5.08 billion versus the £5.16 billion forecast.
Underlying profits (adjusted EBITDA) were up 2% to £8.10 billion, again a smidge below the consensus of £8.15 billion, with adjusted earnings per share down 16% to 18.5p, versus the consensus EPS forecast of 19.2p.
On the outlook, revenue is guided to growth between 0% and 1% and EBITDA just above flat to around £8.2bn (forecasts are currently at around £8.3 billion), with capital expenditure excluding spectrum less than £4.8 billion and normalised free cash flow of around £1.5 billion.
FTSE 100 to jump out of the gate
The FTSE 100 is heading for a smooth start again on Thursday, with another day full to the brim with corporate results, including BT Group, easyJet (LON:EZJ), Future (LON:FUTR), Sage Group (LON:SGE), Premier Foods (LON:PFD) and United Utilities (LON:UU).
Spread-betters have called London's blue-chip benchmark 22 points higher ahead of the open, after the index notched another record intraday day high (8,474.41) and all-time closing high, up almost 18 points yesterday to 8,445.8.
Overnight, the three major US stock indices all closed at new record highs too, as softer inflation report strengthened rate cut expectations.
The Nasdaq gained 1.4% and the S&P 500 added 1.2%, while the Dow Jones rose 0.9%.
As the meme stock rally of the last three days faded, GameStop (NYSE:GME) shares retreated by 18% and AMC was down 20% at the closing bell.