BT Group plc (LON:BT.A) has announced its results for the half year to 30 September 2026
Allison Kirkby, Chief Executive, commenting on the results, said: “BT delivered a strong first half, with further strategic momentum in a competitive market, resulting in growth in revenue, EBITDA and customer satisfaction. We are building the UK’s digital backbone, connecting and protecting the country like no-one else, while accelerating our transformation as we create a better BT for all of us.“Openreach achieved record full fibre demand, with more than 10 million homes and businesses now connected and take-up reaching 41%. BT and EE have been recognised as the UK’s best broadband and mobile networks, while more households are choosing our mobile and TV services together. And our growing order book in Business is supported by leadership in secure and sovereign connectivity solutions.“Our UK-centric strategy and transformation is clearly delivering with £312 million of annualised savings achieved in the first half, as we continue to simplify and modernise. Our proposed international joint venture with Verizon is progressing at pace, and we’ve also stepped up for the country with the acquisition of TalkTalk, protecting millions of customers while creating value for all our stakeholders. We are reiterating our mid-term guidance, including normalised free cash flow of c.£3.0bn by the end of the decade. For this fiscal year, we are on track to deliver normalised free cash flow of c.£2.0bn, excluding the effects of the TalkTalk transaction. We’re also announcing an increased interim dividend to 2.5 pence per share.”
Consistently delivering against our strategic priorities in competitive markets
– Record customer demand for Openreach FTTP with over 1.1m net adds in H1; total premises connected 9.9m, now >50% of broadband and bringing our market-leading take-up rate to 41%; more than 10m connections reached in October; Openreach broadband ARPU of £17.8 grew 7% year on year, driven by CPI-linked price increases, higher FTTP take-up and speed mix
– FTTP footprint increased to 24.1m, with 1.2m premises passed in the six-month period; we now expect to reach our 25m build target in March
– Openreach broadband line losses were 175k in Q2 and 366k in the six-month period; we continue to expect losses of c.800k in the year
– BT and EE network leadership recognised with historic double awards, with RootMetrics recognising EE as the UK’s Best Mobile Network for the 13th consecutive year, and Ookla recognising BT’s Full Fibre network as the best in the UK; 5G+ population coverage rose to 81%, up from 73% in March
– Record retail FTTP base growth in H1 with Consumer up 574k to 4.7m and Business up 40k to 0.4m, taking FTTP to 54% of the broadband base
– Consumer customer base up 86k in postpaid mobile and 26k in TV, down 7k in broadband; churn remains stable year on year
– Consumer ARPU of £40.8 in broadband, down 3% year on year, reflecting lower voice revenue and a competitive market; £19.8 in postpaid mobile, up 3% year on year; Consumer fixed and mobile convergence increased to 27.1% from 25.9% a year ago
– Business momentum built through the period, with strong sales order growth including contracts with the Ministry of Justice, the Cabinet Office, Scottish Water and Royal Mail; Microsoft partnership deepened in security; brand consideration is building following our BT brand relaunch
– Transformation programme remains on track to deliver £3.5bn of gross annualised cost savings by FY30 on a continuing operations basis; in the six-month period £312m of savings were delivered taking cumulative total savings to £1.7bn at a cost to achieve of £0.8bn; operational efficiencies continued to improve year on year, with network energy usage down 7%, total labour resource down 11% to 90k, and Openreach repair volumes down 16%
– BT Group NPS improved to 33.4, up 5.6pts year on year, rebased for the exclusion of International; customer satisfaction increased across all retail brands, with the BT brand at its highest level in four years
– Improved International EBITDA1 and cash flow; on track to complete joint venture with Verizon in the second half of calendar 2027
– Acquired TalkTalk out of administration on 5 October, protecting service continuity for 2.5m UK customers; awaiting conclusion of regulatory review
Financial performance on track; full year guidance reconfirmed
Following the announcement in June of our agreement with Verizon to create a combined global business, the International CFU is now reported as a discontinued operation. The below metrics are reported on a continuing basis.
– Revenue £8.8bn, up 1%, driven by higher handset revenues in Consumer, partially offset by declines in adjusted service revenue
– Adjusted service revenue2 £7.7bn, down 1%, driven by a continued drag from voice of 1 percentage point
– Adjusted2 EBITDA £4.1bn, up 1% year on year, driven by lower staff costs and wider cost transformation benefits, more than offsetting the voice decline
– Reported profit before tax £1.1bn, up 12%, driven by lower restructuring costs and EBITDA flow through
– Capital expenditure2 £2.3bn, down 5%, reflecting lower build activity
- On a like-for-like basis, excluding FY26 divestments.
- Glossary on page 30
– Cash generated from continuing operations £2.6bn, down 10%; normalised free cash flow1 £0.2bn, down 59% reflecting a higher cash outflow from working capital and working capital programmes
– Net debt £21.0bn (31 March 2026: £20.0bn), the increase was driven by scheduled pension contributions and full-year dividend payment, partially offset by cash generated from trading activities
– Gross IAS 19 pension deficit of £3.2bn, a decrease from £4.2bn at 31 March 2026, predominantly as a result of the payment of scheduled contributions over the period
– Triennial pension agreement reached, the BT Pension Scheme’s (BTPS) funding position continues to improve, with the deficit reducing to £2.7bn at June 2026; scheduled contributions will be substantially replaced with zero-coupon bonds to be issued shortly; BT will provide additional funding of £0.3bn net present value to ensure the BTPS remains on track to be fully funded by 2030; measures will substantially reduce the funding deficit to around £0.3bn; wider package agreed, including enhanced dividend headroom; see separate release for full details
– Interim dividend of 2.50 pence per share (pps), up 2% from 2.45pps in H1 FY26 in line with our policy of paying 30% of the prior year’s full-year dividend
– FY27 outlook reconfirmed: Adjusted1 revenue £17.1-£17.6bn, adjusted service revenue1 of £15.1-£15.4bn and adjusted1 EBITDA growth to within the range of £8.1-£8.2bn; capital expenditure1 excluding spectrum of £4.2-£4.3bn; normalised free cash flow1 c.£2.0bn. Our FY27 outlook excludes the impact of the TalkTalk acquisition; BT will provide further details on the effects of the acquisition on revenue, EBITDA and capital expenditure following alignment of TalkTalk’s financial reporting to BT’s accounting policies and completion of acquisition accounting later this fiscal year
– Mid-term guidance reconfirmed: Sustained growth in adjusted1 revenue and adjusted service revenue1, sustained growth in adjusted1 EBITDA ahead of service revenue, enhanced by cost transformation; capital expenditure1 excluding spectrum reducing by more than £1bn from the FY26 level; normalised free cash flow1 of c.£3.0bn by the end of the decade
