LONDON (Reuters) – The new chief executive of British telecoms operator BT, Allison Kirkby, announced on Thursday that she was aiming for free cash flow to more than double over the next five years after reaching the peak of her investment in networks. optical fiber.
On the London Stock Exchange, BT shares rose 10.65% at 08:49 GMT, their highest since December.
Allison Kirkby, former head of Telia in Sweden, announced on Thursday that BT would increase its dividend for the 2024 financial year by 3.9%, to 8 pence (0.09 euros) per share, after free cash flow exceeded expectations.
Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Matt Britzman said the company is making good progress in cost reduction under the leadership of Allison Kirby, who took over in February.
“BT’s future rests largely on getting through the fiber build phase, and to its credit, progress appears satisfactory,” he commented.
Philip Jansen, the group’s previous chief executive, set a goal of deploying a national fiber optic network to 25 million sites by the end of 2026, a project in which BT has already invested heavily, including in the development of its 5G networks.
The Openreach unit, which serves Sky and TalkTalk as well as BT’s own consumers, is seeing strong demand for fiber.
BT also reported a 1% increase in its annual turnover to 20.8 billion pounds (24.25 billion euros), with price increases and the sale of products compatible with the optical fiber.
(Reporting Paul Sandle; Dimitri Rhodes, editing by Kate Entringer)
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