Final Results

British Telecommunications PLC 10 May 2001 PART 1 May 10, 2001 PRELIMINARY RESULTS - YEAR TO MARCH 31, 2001 Summary Points from Chairman's Statement on Preliminary Results The Transformation of BT * Satisfactory operating performance from our UK business - group EBITDA maintained * Good progress made in debt reduction, with £5.5 billion of disposals already agreed * £5.9 billion rights issue announced * Non-cash charge of £3 billion taken against goodwill on Viag Interkom * Dividend payments halted for the time being * Decision to create two strong and separately quoted businesses, BT Wireless and Future BT Sir Christopher Bland concluded, 'It will require determined and rapid action by management to achieve the transformation of BT; we have made a good start, the culture is changing, and I am confident that we can complete the process in the best interests of our shareholders, customers and staff'. BT's results for the fourth quarter and year ended March 31, 2001 are summarised in the following table below. Fourth Year Quarter 2001 2000 2001 2000 £m £m £m £m Group turnover 5,422 4,743 20,427 18,715 EBITDA 1,630 1,582 6,492 6,439 Net interest charge (422) (140) (1,314) (382) Profit before goodwill amortisation, exceptional items 319 742 2,072 3,100 and taxation Goodwill impairment charge (3,000) - (3,200) - Profit on sale of group undertakings and fixed asset 54 36 619 126 investments Profit (loss) before taxation (2,823) 629 (1,031) 2,942 Profit (loss) after taxation (2,919) 437 (1,683) 2,045 Earnings (loss) per share (44.9)p 6.8p (27.7)p 31.7p Earnings per share before exceptional items and goodwill 3.0p 8.4p 20.5p 34.2p amortisation Chairman's statement Sir Christopher Bland, BT's Chairman appointed on May 1, 2001, said: The Transformation of BT 'BT's operating performance in the year has been satisfactory and in line with market expectations; group turnover rose by 9 per cent, and EBITDA has been maintained at similar levels to last year. However, we have taken a non-cash charge of £3 billion against the goodwill on our German subsidiary, Viag Interkom, in the light of changed expectations for that business. Net debt has risen to £27.9 billion at March 31, 2001 following the acquisitions made during the year. Our first priority is to repay a significant amount of this debt. We have made a good start with the agreed sales of investments in Japan, Spain, Switzerland and Malaysia, which should raise over £5 billion. Further disposals, including the sale or demerger of Yell and the sale of group properties, are planned. We have also announced today that we intend to raise £5.9 billion through a rights issue; details are being sent to all shareholders separately. And we have taken the unwelcome but necessary step of halting dividend payments for the time being. As part of our plans for the future we intend to demerge BT Wireless. As a result, and provided the necessary permissions are received, shareholders will own shares in two strong and separately quoted businesses: BT Wireless and Future BT. We expect both to be substantial FTSE 100 companies. Taken together, these measures will greatly strengthen the financial position of BT and enable the restructuring programme to be delivered in the way most likely to preserve shareholder value. It will require determined and rapid action by management to achieve the transformation of BT; we have made a good start, the culture is changing, and I am confident that we can complete the process in the best interests of our shareholders, customers and staff.' Financial headlines Fourth quarter * EBITDA rose by 3.0 per cent to £1,630 million * Group turnover increased by 14.3 per cent to £5,422 million * Disappointing Concert global venture results - loss of £89 million * Capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment rose by 53 per cent to £1,780 million * Successful Euro 9.7 billion Eurobond issued * Goodwill impairment charge of £3.0 billion relating to Viag Interkom in light of reduced expectations * Balance sheet gearing at 192 per cent with net debt at £27.9 billion at end of March 2001 Full year * EBITDA rose by 0.8 per cent to £6,492 million * Group turnover rose by 9.1 per cent to £20,427 million * Disposal programme contributes £619 million to profit before tax * Capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment rose by 35 per cent to £4,986 million * Successful US $10 billion and Euro 9.7 billion bonds issued * Goodwill impairment charge of £3.2 billion * Dividend payments halted Business highlights * Radical restructuring announced on November 9, 2000 and work continues on implementation * ADSL roll out extends to 839 exchanges at March 31, 2001 * Agreement with Crown Castle to develop cellsites jointly * New BT Together packages launched, 8 million customers now benefiting * BT Cellnet's customer base up 3.8 million in the year to 11.2 million at March 31, 2001 * Full control taken of Viag Interkom. Its mobile customer base rises to 3.7 million at March 31, 2001 - up 8 times in 12 months * BT Ignite's integrated broadband enabled IP network covers more than 52,000 km in 12 countries * Genie achieves around 4 million registered users world-wide Restructuring In April 2000, we announced a restructuring whereby the group and its ventures would be managed through four international businesses alongside BT's two UK operations and the Concert global venture. The four international businesses, BT Wireless, BT Ignite, BTopenworld and Yell began operations on July 1, 2000, as planned. On November 9, 2000, we announced an intention to sell public minority stakes in some of BT's international businesses and to dispose of non-core holdings. We also stated that we expected to reduce our net borrowings from a peak of approximately £30 billion by around £10 billion by December 31, 2001. Certain of the restructuring steps have been changed to reflect developments in the capital markets. In particular, we intend to demerge BT Wireless towards the end of 2001 and to sell or demerge Yell. In implementing the new structure, the shape of the international businesses has been modified. BT Wireless now comprises the group's controlled mobile activities in the UK, Germany, The Netherlands and Ireland, and the Genie mobile internet business. The group's minority interests in wireless companies are held centrally pending a decision about their future within the BT group. The financial information on BT Wireless and the other international businesses published in this release for the fourth quarter and year ended March 31, 2001 reflects this structural modification. We are also including in this release separate financial information for the main UK retail and wholesale businesses for the first time. On May 2, 2001, we announced that we had agreed to sell our interests in Japan Telecom and J-Phones for £3.7 billion, and our interest in Airtel in Spain for £1.1 billion, both to Vodafone. The impact of the combined transaction will be a net reduction in total BT group debt of £4.4 billion. Completion of the transactions is conditional upon relevant regulatory and procedural approvals in Europe and Japan. We also announced on May 4, 2001 that we had agreed in principle to sell our interest in Maxis Communications in Malaysia for £350 million. This transaction is also subject to regulatory and other approvals. In the detailed analysis which follows, we deal first with the results at group level before highlighting the performance of our new lines of business. GROUP RESULTS Fourth quarter BT's loss per share for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2001 was 44.9 pence based on a loss before taxation of £2,823 million. This loss included the following exceptional items: * Goodwill impairment charge of £3,000 million relating to Viag Interkom * Write off of systems and software amounting to £43 million following BT's acquisition of Viag Interkom * Profit of £54 million from the disposal of fixed asset investments and group undertakings Earnings before these items and goodwill amortisation were 3.0 pence per share compared with 8.4 pence per share in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year. The lower earnings in the current period were mainly due to higher interest charges following BT's acquisition of businesses and third generation licences over the past year and losses incurred by the Concert global venture. Total operating profit before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items declined by 16.0 per cent to £741 million on a total turnover increase of 29 per cent to £7,747 million. Of the total turnover increase, approximately 60 per cent was due to acquisitions, net of disposals. Turnover Group turnover increased by 14.3 per cent in the fourth quarter to £5,422 million. The principal areas of growth were through the acquisition of interests in Europe and from interconnect with UK operators. Fixed network call turnover in the UK declined by 4.0 per cent (£57 million) to £1,383 million in the quarter. Significant factors in this change were: * price reductions, which reduced turnover by approximately £60 million; * call volume growth on a 12 months moving average basis was 2 per cent to March 31, 2001, compared with 7 per cent a year earlier. Strong fixed to mobile and internet-related non-geographic call growth was offset by declining higher margin local, national and international geographic call volumes. * The trend in fixed network call volumes is illustrated in the table below: Fixed network calls volume growth 12 months moving average volume growth (decline) Mar Dec Sep Jun Mar Dec Sep Jun 01 00 00 00 00 99 99 99 % % % % % % % % Non-geographic calls: Internet related and 38 57 69 87 95 112 126 119 other Fixed to mobile 30 36 42 46 48 49 47 42 Geographic calls: Local (12) (12) (11) (10) (9) (8) (6) (5) National (7) (8) (7) (6) (4) (3) (1) (1) International (3) (5) (6) (5) (3) (2) 0 0 Overall 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 Turnover from UK exchange line rental and connection charges grew by 8.0 per cent in the fourth quarter to £970 million, reflecting both price increases and the growth in BT's network. Business lines have grown by 5.4 per cent over the 12 months to March 31, 2001. Residential lines have declined by 0.3 per cent over the year due to some mobile phone substitution and competition from other fixed line providers, offset in part by customers taking up second lines. Receipts from other operators for interconnect increased by 41 per cent in the fourth quarter to £805 million, primarily from growth in transit traffic handled by BT for other UK operators. Wireless turnover rose by 35 per cent in the fourth quarter to £752 million. The acquisitions of Esat Digifone, Telfort and Viag Interkom contributed £191 million of the growth of £195 million in the quarter. Total turnover, including BT's proportionate share of its ventures, grew by 29 per cent in the fourth quarter to £7,747 million. The increase in BT's proportional share of its ventures' turnover from £1,435 million to £2,512 million is principally due to its investments in Japan. Operating costs and results Total operating costs, excluding exceptional items, rose by 22 per cent in the fourth quarter. Underlying operating costs, excluding goodwill amortisation and the effects of acquisitions and disposals, rose by about 10 per cent. The principal reasons for the underlying increase in the fourth quarter were: * higher payments to other operators for interconnect (payments to operators increased by 16.8 per cent to £994 million); and * higher depreciation costs of £164 million reflecting the increase in BT's asset base and the shortening of asset lives. The group operating results for the fourth quarter are after charging the exceptional goodwill impairment of £3,000 million relating to Viag Interkom. In addition, ongoing goodwill amortisation of £115 million has been charged, principally on the Cellnet minority acquisition in November 1999, the Esat group acquisition in March 2000 and the Viag Interkom acquisition in February 2001. Before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items, group operating profit of £775 million was 15.9 per cent lower than in the corresponding period of the previous year. This reduction in profit was mainly attributable to the losses incurred by BT's newly acquired subsidiaries, Viag Interkom, Telfort and Esat Telecom. Share of results of ventures BT's share of its ventures' operating results before goodwill amortisation improved to a loss of £34 million in the fourth quarter from a loss of £40 million in the corresponding period of last year. This improvement is largely due to the acquisition of interests in Japan Telecom and the J-Phone mobile companies, offset by a deterioration in Concert's performance, as shown in the table below. BT's share of operating profit (loss) before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items Fourth quarter ended March 31, 2001 2000 £m £m Japanese investments and other 48 (59) Concert global venture (89) 69 Cegetel 44 (1) Viag Interkom (to February 19, 2001) (54) (54) Airtel 17 5 Total (34) (40) Goodwill amortisation attributable to the ventures rose from £28 million to £ 38 million before exceptional items in the fourth quarter. Interest Net interest, including BT's share of its ventures' interest charge, rose by £282 million to £422 million in the fourth quarter. Of the total charge, £ 352 million arose in the BT group and £70 million relates to ventures. The increase in the group's interest charge of £243 million is a consequence of the debt incurred by the group to finance its recent acquisitions and the third generation mobile licences. Before goodwill amortisation, the net interest charge was covered 1.7 times by total operating profit. Taxation The tax charge of £96 million represents an effective rate of 28.5 per cent of profit before tax and goodwill amortisation for the fourth quarter. Full year The loss per share for the year ended March 31, 2001 was 27.7 pence based on a loss before taxation of £1,031 million. This loss included the following exceptional items: * write down of impaired goodwill in subsidiaries and ventures of £3,200 million; * write off of subscriber acquisition costs of £139 million on aligning the accounting of non-UK wireless operations; * write off of equipment assets amounting to £43 million following BT's acquisition of Viag Interkom; * profit of £619 million from the disposal of fixed asset investments and group undertakings; and * rates rebate of £193 million on BT's infrastructure and associated interest credit of £25 million. Earnings before these items and goodwill amortisation were 20.5 pence per share compared with 34.2 pence per share in the previous financial year. The lower earnings in the current year were mainly due to higher interest charges following BT's acquisition of businesses and third generation licences over the past eighteen months. Total operating profit before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items declined by 2.0 per cent to £3,411 million on a total turnover increase of 35 per cent to £29,666 million. Of the total turnover increase, approximately 70 per cent was due to net acquisitions. Turnover Group turnover increased by 9.1 per cent in the year ended March 31, 2001 to £ 20,427 million. The principal areas of growth were through the acquisition of interests in Europe and from interconnect with UK operators. The transfer of certain BT businesses to the Concert global venture in January 2000 has had the effect of reducing group turnover for the year by approximately £610 million (3 per cent). Group turnover continues to originate predominately in the UK with 91 per cent originating in the country compared to 95 per cent in the previous year. Fixed network call turnover in the UK declined by 4.3 per cent (£253 million) to £5,655 million in the year. Price reductions had the effect of reducing turnover by approximately £280 million. Other significant factors in this change were similar to those which affected the fourth quarter. Turnover from UK exchange line rental and connection charges grew by 4.2 per cent in the year to £3,674 million as a consequence of increased numbers of business lines and price increases. Receipts from other operators for interconnect increased by 43 per cent in the year to £2,814 million, primarily from growth in transit traffic handled by BT for other UK operators. Wireless turnover rose by 27 per cent in the year to £2,760 million. The acquisitions of controlling interests in Esat Digifone in March 2000, Telfort in June 2000 and Viag Interkom in February 2001 contributed £467 million of the growth of £590 million in the year. Total turnover, including BT's proportionate share of its ventures, grew by 35 per cent in the year to £29,666 million. The increase in BT's proportional share of its ventures' turnover from £3,364 million to £9,937 million is principally due to its investments in Japan and in the Concert global venture with AT&T which was launched in January 2000. Operating costs and results Total operating costs, excluding exceptional items, rose by 17.4 per cent in the year. Underlying operating costs, excluding goodwill amortisation and the effects of acquisitions and disposals, rose by about 10 per cent. The principal reasons for the underlying increase in the year were: * higher payments to other operators for interconnect (payments to operators increased by 23 per cent to £3,802 million); and * higher depreciation costs of £293 million reflecting the increase in BT's asset base and shorter asset lives. Over 5,800 employees left BT in the year under early release. Redundancy direct costs for the year were £45 million higher at £104 million. We are changing the arrangements under which people leave BT in advance of the normal retirement age. Under our NewStart programme launched during the fourth quarter, BT employees will be expected to leave with a leaving payment in place of a redundancy payment, and incremental pension benefits are to be scaled down. This should reduce early leaver costs, which have been very significant in recent years. Payments totalling £14 million were made under the NewStart programme in the fourth quarter of the year. The group operating results for the year are after charging the exceptional goodwill impairment of £3,000 million and £373 million for goodwill amortisation, principally related to the Cellnet minority acquisition in November 1999. Before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items, group operating profit of £3,291 million was 13.3 per cent lower than in the previous year. This reduction in profit was mainly attributable to the losses incurred by BT's newly acquired subsidiaries, Telfort and Esat Telecom and the transfer of business to the Concert global venture in January 2000. Share of results of ventures BT's share of its ventures' operating results before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items improved to a profit of £120 million in the year from a loss of £316 million in the previous year. This improvement is largely due to the acquisition of interests in Japan Telecom and the J-Phone mobile companies as shown in the table below. BT's share of operating profit (loss) before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items Year ended March 31, 2001 2000 £m £m Japanese investments and other 231 (206) Concert global venture (three months in 2000) 19 69 Cegetel 90 30 Viag Interkom (to February 19, 2001) (277) (240) Airtel 57 31 Total 120 (316) Goodwill amortisation attributable to the ventures rose from £84 million to £ 185 million before exceptional items in the year. Profit on sale of fixed asset investments and group undertakings We sold our 34 per cent interest in sunrise communications, our telecommunications joint venture in Switzerland, to another partner for £464 million in the third quarter. The profit of £454 million on this sale is the main item in the total profit of £619 million for the year. Interest Net interest, including BT's share of its ventures' interest charge, rose by £932 million to £1,314 million in the year. Of the total charge, £1,044 million arose in the BT group and £270 million relates to ventures. Net interest includes a one-off benefit of £25 million interest receivable on the infrastructure rates refund. The increase in the group's interest charge of £ 738 million is a consequence of the debt incurred by the group to finance its recent acquisitions and the third generation mobile licences. Before goodwill amortisation, the net interest charge was covered 2.6 times by total operating profit. Exceptional items The results for the year include several exceptional items. These are summarised in the following table and compared with the exceptional items in the previous year. Exceptional items Year ended March 31, 2001 2000 £m £m Impairment of goodwill in Viag Interkom (3,000) - Impairment of goodwill in ventures (200) - Write off of cellular subscriber acquisition costs (139) - Write off of Viag Interkom's IT systems (43) - Infrastructure rates refunds 193 - Costs relating to the disengagement from MCI - (64) Costs relating to the closure of the BT Cellnet analogue - (47) network Adverse impact on total operating profit (3,189) (111) Profit on sale of group undertakings 619 126 Interest receivable on rates refunds 25 - Beneficial (adverse) impact on profit before tax (2,545) 15 The most significant item is the impairment of goodwill in Viag Interkom. We completed the acquisition of the 55 per cent interest in the company for £ 5,605 million in January and February 2001. Goodwill of £4,992 million arose on this transaction, the consideration for which was negotiated in August 2000. We have undertaken an impairment review under the requirements of the UK Accounting Standard FRS11, incorporating reduced expectations for the rate of growth in profits in the medium term. An impairment in goodwill of £3,000 million resulted from this review, which we have charged as an exceptional item in the fourth quarter and year ended March 31, 2001. Other exceptional items in the year comprised: * a write off of £43 million on Viag Interkom's IT systems following its division into fixed and wireless businesses on BT's acquisition; * write off of £139 million relating to deferred subscriber acquisition costs. We have aligned the accounting of all the wireless operating units; this has resulted in a write off of previously capitalised costs in certain non UK operations; * goodwill impairment of £200 million arising in Asian ventures; and * credit of £193 million for the refund of rates on BT's UK infrastructure following a successful legal action taken by BT in 2000 to challenge the rateable valuations on which it was charged for its network assets. Taxation and minority interests The tax charge of £652 million represents an effective rate of 28.5 per cent of profit before tax, goodwill amortisation and the profit on disposal of certain fixed asset investments, for the year. The minority interests in the results of the year of £127 million are primarily attributable to outside interests in the Japanese investments. Dividends An interim dividend of 8.7 pence per share was paid in February 2001. As part of BT's debt reduction and restructuring plans, the Board is not recommending the payment of a final dividend to shareholders for the year ended March 31, 2001. Cash flow and net debt Cash inflow from operating activities amounted to £5,887 million in the year ended March 31, 2001, a similar level to the previous year. The group's significant cash flows in the fourth quarter and year are summarised in the following table. Cash flows Fourth Year quarter ended Ended March March 31, 31, 2001 2001 £m £m Net cash outflow from capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment, and interest, tax and dividend payments, less cash inflow from operating activities 345 1,687 Acquisitions of businesses and funding of ventures (including 8,889 14,501 Viag Interkom's 3G licence) Mobile licences and other intangible assets acquired 12 4,208 Disposals of businesses (157) (747) Fixed asset disposals (408) (522) Net cash outflow before financing 8,681 19,127 The cash outflow on acquisitions of £14,501 million in the year consisted mainly of the acquisitions of Viag Interkom, including its third generation licence, Esat and Telfort. The mobile licences acquired relates primarily to the UK third generation licence. In April 2001, we acquired the 49.5 per cent minority interest in Esat Digifone that we did not already own for £856 million. During the year ended March 31, 2001 we raised significant long-term finance. In December 2000, we issued a US$10 billion global bond with maturities between 2003 and 2030, and in February 2001 we issued a Euro9.7 billion bond with maturities between 2003 and 2016. We have financed the majority of our other requirements during the year by drawing on commercial paper and medium-term note programmes under which approximately £10.7 billion was outstanding at March 31, 2001, an increase of £5.8 billion since March 31, 2000. The group had unused committed short-term bank facilities amounting to approximately £16.8 billion at March 31, 2001, in support of a commercial paper programme or other borrowings. BT's fixed-rate debt at March 31, 2001 carries interest at an average rate of 7 per cent. Both the global and Eurobond bonds noted above have terms under which BT has to pay higher interest rates should our credit ratings be lowered. Gearing (net debt as a percentage of shareholders' funds and minority interests) at March 31, 2001 stood at 192 per cent with net debt of £27.9 billion compared with £8.7 billion at March 31, 2000. Capital expenditure Capital expenditure on plant, equipment and property in the fourth quarter of £1,780 million brought the total to £4,986 million for the year compared with £3,680 million in the previous year. The expenditure in the year includes £482 million spent by our newly acquired subsidiaries in Germany, The Netherlands and Ireland. Work continues on enhancing the UK fixed network to enable customers to benefit from new wave communications technologies, including ADSL. For the financial year ending March 31, 2002, we expect capital expenditure on plant, equipment and property to be around £4.9 billion, of which £1.5 billion would be incurred by BT Wireless. Acquisitions During the year ended March 31, 2001, BT completed the acquisition of a significant indirect interest in regional Japanese wireless companies (the J-Phone companies), acquired the 55 per cent interest owned by its two venture partners in Viag Interkom, and the 50 per cent interest in Telfort owned by its venture partner, and gained a further 17 per cent interest in Telenordia. J-Phone companies BT's indirect interests in the three J-Phone cellular companies are mainly through J-Phone Communications Co Limited which holds more than 50 per cent of the equity in these companies following a share issue in early May 2000. BT and Japan Telecom together own 74 per cent of J-Phone Communications Co Limited. BT's overall economic interest in the J-Phone companies is around 20 per cent. As noted above, we have now agreed to sell our interests to Vodafone for £3.7 billion. As part of this transaction, BT will exercise options to buy just under 5 per cent of the shares in each of the three regional J-Phone operating companies from Japan Telecom for a total of £380 million. Viag Interkom After gaining regulatory clearances, BT took full control of Viag Interkom on February 20, 2001. Under the agreement originally announced in August 2000, BT bought from E.ON its 45 per cent interest in Viag Interkom by means of a put option priced at Euro7.25 billion (£4.6 billion). BT acquired the 10 per cent interest in the company previously owned by Telenor in January 2001 for Euro1.6 billion (£1.0 billion). Viag Interkom was awarded a third generation mobile licence in Germany for DM 16.5 billion (£5.13 billion). The licence is for two 10 MHz blocks of spectrum. BT funded its original 45 per cent share of the licence fee, amounting to £2,324 million, in early September 2000. BT took on the obligation to fund the remaining 55 per cent share of the licence fee at the same time as it acquired E.ON and Telenor's interests. BT's total investment in Viag Interkom approximates £12 billion following the completion of these transactions, reduced by the goodwill impairment of £3.0 billion referred to earlier. Telfort In June 2000, BT acquired the 50 per cent of Telfort it did not already own from the Dutch railways for £1.2 billion. The consideration was paid on July 5, 2000. A third generation mobile licence in The Netherlands was awarded to Telfort in July 2000 for £267 million. Telenordia In September 2000, BT increased its existing 33 per cent interest in Telenordia to 50 per cent for £94 million. Telenor similarly increased its stake to 50 per cent. BT and Telenor are considering the listing of Telenordia which is based in Sweden. UK third generation licence In April 2000, BT won a third generation mobile licence in the UK auction. The payment of £4.03 billion for the licence was substantially made in May 2000. Pensions Accounting Pension costs charged against the results for the year rose by £159 million to £326 million. The increase was, in part, due to the general trend towards longer life expectancy. Additionally, BT employees agreeing to leave during the year caused approximately £430 million of incremental liabilities in the BT Pension Scheme. These costs are not charged in the group profit and loss account in the period, in accordance with UK accounting standards, because we had an adequate accounting surplus to absorb these costs. Cash contributions In addition to our normal contributions of £318 million to the BT Pension Scheme, we made a special contribution to the BT Pension Scheme of £200 million in December 2000 as a partial funding of the fund's deficit disclosed at the most recent actuarial valuation at December 31, 1999. A further contribution of £100 million was made in March 2001 as a result of the redundancies since the valuation. The payments have been charged against the group's existing pension provision and not the profit and loss account. The trustees of the BT Pension Scheme may require the company to make special contributions to cover the cost of redundancies on the fund. Arrangements from April 1, 2001 From the beginning of April 2001 we have been offering new employees defined contribution pension benefits, having closed our defined benefit BT Pension Scheme to new entrants on March 31, 2001. Under the new arrangements, we are willing to match employees contributions up to a maximum of 10 per cent of basic pay and an employee will be entitled to pension benefits from the individual fund which is built up over his or her working life. The BT Pension Scheme, which had assets of £28.9 billion at December 31, 2000, continues to provide pension benefits for pensioners and employees who joined BT before March 31, 2001 under the existing arrangements which are unchanged. MORE TO FOLLOW

Companies

BT Group (BT.A)
UK 100
FTSE quotes by TradingView

Latest directors dealings

All directors dealings today