Financial Results Northern Ireland. BT Ireland revenue and profits up for full year 2014/15

BT Ireland today announced the financial results of its all-island operation for the year ending 31st March 2015.

BT Ireland today announced the results of its all-island operation for the year to 31st March 2015.  Revenue increased by 2% to £635 million excluding transit revenue and the impact of foreign exchange movements.  Profit* was up 4% year on year, driven by increased demand for fibre broadband, the provision of major contracts, and continued cost management.  

Colm O’Neill, Chief Executive, BT in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland said, “We’ve delivered a solid year of growth in both revenue and profit across the island of Ireland, and continued to offer greater connectivity, choice and value to our customers. Examples include our on-going investment in infrastructure to provide more access to next generation fibre broadband; enhancing our consumer portfolio, particularly in TV and Sport; and adding new capabilities in cloud services and 4G mobility for the SME and enterprise markets. In addition, we’ve continued to invest in skills and talent creating almost 80 new jobs in Belfast in recent months, bringing our total employee numbers in Northern Ireland to over 2,400”.

The expansion of BT’s open access fibre network continued throughout the year with the deployment of the Northern Ireland Broadband Improvement Project, a £23.5 million collaborative investment by BT and the Northern Ireland government. Across NI and in some of its most remote and rural areas, this fibre-based next generation network is changing the way citizens work, rest and play with over 205,000 homes and businesses now availing of the service.  

Across the wider BT Consumer line of business there was strong growth in the consumer broadband and TV customer bases, with BT Sport contributing to top and bottom line growth. BT Sport TV channels are now in more than 5.2 million homes, with the customer base growing again in the quarter. New rights secured include the FA Premier League football rights for a further three years and an extension with Aviva Premiership Rugby for four more years.  This summer will see customers enjoy exclusive live football from the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League and even more top sporting action.

In the business sector BT continued to win in the market securing new contracts with customers such as NI Direct, which sees BT deliver contact centre services for the Northern Ireland public sector and drive digital transformation in the provision of government services in Northern Ireland. The company also expanded its range of products and services for the SME market, including the introduction of 4G for mobile and the launch of BT Cloud Voice, a cloud based phone system that enables businesses to integrate mobile and office phones on a single number, keeping them connected at all times. In February BT announced the proposed acquisition of EE, a combination it believes will provide current and future customers with innovative, seamless services that combine the power of fibre broadband with wi-fi and advanced mobile capabilities. 

In the year BT Ireland continued to invest in research and development, expanding its cloud services portfolio as well as pioneering a successful trial which saw it integrate 400Gbps technology into its live network for the first time. The full deployment of this technology is underway on the BT Ireland network between Belfast, Dublin and London giving customers a greater choice of services and more efficient access to their global networks and cloud services, as well as supporting Ireland-UK trade.

For more information on BT in the Irish market, visit www.btireland.com