Overview
- BT reported half‑year results on Thursday showing pre‑tax profit rose 12% to £1.1bn after cost cuts and a headcount fall to about 90,000.
- The group completed a rescue purchase of TalkTalk’s consumer and wholesale businesses last month, taking on roughly 2.5 million customers and about 900 staff for an expected cost of £400m this year.
- Allison Kirkby declined to guarantee the roles of transferring TalkTalk employees because the deal has been referred by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy for a fast Competition and Markets Authority public‑interest review.
- BT said cash left after running and investing plunged 59% to £236m while net debt rose by about £1bn to roughly £21bn and the company has excluded the acquisition’s impact from full‑year forecasts.
- Rivals have objected to the takeover, Bloomberg Intelligence estimates BT’s fixed broadband share could climb to about 35%, and Openreach’s full‑fibre rollout (over 10m premises connected) plus heavy rival debt may push the industry toward buying access rather than building duplicate networks.