Proactive Investors - Outgoing BT Group PLC (LON:BT) chief Philip Jansen fired an unsubtle broadside against myopic UK investors over the weekend, accusing them of ignoring the long-term prospects of the incumbent telecoms provider.
“I think the evidence is that the UK public markets, particularly compared to the US, seem to have a focus more on the short term,” Jansen said in an interview with The Times.
The London markets are “brutal” to long-term growth plans, according to Jasen, who announced his departure last week after more than four years in the role.
Jansen took the chief position on a platform of long-term investment away from outdated copper infrastructure to full-fibre, an increasingly hard sell amid compounding build-out costs.
BT shares are now nearly half what they were worth when he took the role.
“The shareholders totally support the strategy, they're just disappointed that there aren't enough people buying the shares and (the market) is focused on the short-term cashflow, which I accept is brutal,” he told The Times.
“We have sympathy with Mr Jansen's view,” said Robert Grindle, head of European TMT research at Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn).
Grindle believes the issue has been one for the entire sector, leading to an imbalance between public and private valuations of telecoms assets.
However, “BT was arguably slow in its fibre build and the consequence of being late… is substantial infrastructure competition, which may significantly dent BT's approximately 80% (and falling) share of UK broadband infrastructure”, he added.
Jansen is set to depart BT within the next 12 months.
His as-yet-undetermined successor will have the unenviable task of reviving BT’s reputation among investors, disgruntled customers and an anxious workforce that would have seen 55,000 colleagues given their marching orders by the end of 2023.