ยฉBloomberg
Britain's largest telecoms group will reorganize its business, combining its global and enterprise divisions into a new unit called BT Business, as it seeks to cut costs and revive some of its worst-performing units.
The creation of BT Business will yield ยฃ100m in cost savings by 2025, by enabling it to reduce administration and support roles, as well as product portfolios, the group said.
The former monopoly hopes the unit merger will eliminate duplication and allow it to offer a single interface to corporate and public sector clients.
The move comes after several consecutive quarters in which the group's business division, which accounts for about a quarter of group revenue, struggled, with adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization falling 23 percent. cent in the first six months of the financial year. year, to ยฃ660 million.
The global division was also a drag on group performance, with adjusted Ebitda falling five per cent over the same period, to ยฃ197m.
BT, which employs nearly 100,000 people, recently said it had increased its 2025 cost savings target by a fifth, from ยฃ2.5bn to ยฃ3bn, and may have to lay off staff. โInflation is putting a lot of pressure on us,โ BT Chief Executive Philip Jansen said during the half-year results last month.
After the restructuring, the group will be left with three customer-facing segments: consumers, which support UK customers; BT Business, which supports commercial and public sector clients; and Openreach, its network division that provides broadband infrastructure to companies like Sky and TalkTalk.
