BT Group plc

For FY26, BT reported adjusted revenue of GBP 19.6 billion, down 4% year over year, adjusted EBITDA of GBP 8.23 billion, and normalized free cash flow of GBP 1.5 billion, down from GBP 1.6 billion in FY25. CapEx was GBP 5.1 billion, about GBP 100 million above guidance, and adjusted operating costs before depreciation fell 6%. The company proposed a final dividend of 5.87p per share, bringing the full-year dividend to 8.32p per share, up 2%. For FY27, BT guided to total revenue of around GBP 19 billion to GBP 19.5 billion, U.K. service revenue of GBP 15.1 billion to GBP 15.4 billion, adjusted EBITDA of GBP 8.2 billion to GBP 8.3 billion, CapEx of around GBP 4.3 billion on an accounting basis, and normalized free cash flow of GBP 2 billion. Longer term, it reaffirmed normalized free cash flow of GBP 3 billion by FY30.

Allison Kirkby framed the year as strong strategic execution despite sector and macro turbulence, highlighting record Openreach fiber build, improved customer satisfaction across BT, EE and Plusnet, and successful exits from five noncore businesses. She emphasized that BT is sharpening its focus on the U.K., simplifying the business, and investing in AI-enabled modernization. Her tone was upbeat and confident, especially around Openreach scale, Consumer convergence, and the medium-term cash flow inflection.

Simon Lowth said BT is ahead of plan on the GBP 3 billion transformation program, with GBP 580 million of annualized cost savings in FY26 and GBP 1.5 billion of total savings over the first two years at a cost to achieve of GBP 0.8 billion. He noted total workforce, including subcontractors, fell 7%, direct labor fell 10%, and energy use declined 6%; he also said BT entered FY27 about 90% hedged on energy at pre-conflict prices and roughly half hedged medium term. On capital allocation, he said CapEx should drop by more than GBP 1 billion from FY26 to FY30 as fiber build and IT modernization roll off, and that the company expects a BBB floor and BBB+ through-cycle target, with dividend growth of low to mid-single digits until those metrics are reached.

Analysts focused on whether BT would eventually raise the dividend sharply once fiber build is done, and management said enhanced distributions could come later in multiple forms, including special dividends or buybacks, but only after BBB+ metrics are reached. Questions also probed whether Consumer growth is being sacrificed to support Openreach; Allison rejected that, saying the businesses are run independently and Consumer needed to return to customer base growth after years of losses. On Openreach, management said it is discussing geographic or specific offers with Ofcom and is not calling anything 'Equinox 3,' while also saying line losses should fall again this year to around 800,000. In International and working capital, Simon explained that FY26 cash flow benefited from roughly GBP 460 million of working-capital funding, including copper sales, handset securitization, and bills of exchange normalization, and that FY27 will still see some further copper sales and lower handset securitization.