BT to slash 4,000 jobs
Boss pay cut as profits dive
A SLUMP in profits has led to BT axing 4,000 jobs after what its boss called a “challenging” year.
The cull includes middle managers and admin staff in its Global Services division which does work for other big companies.
Other jobs will be cut at its headquarters.
BT also lowered future dividend growth in a blow to thousands of small shareholders.
The telecoms giant has been rocked by an accounting scandal in its Italian arm, loss of government work and a £342million bill for deliberately denying compensation to hundreds of firms.
If that weren’t bad enough, regulator Ofcom has ordered it to make Openreach, a division that accounted for a third of its profits last year, into a separate legal entity.
Chief executive Gavin Patterson has paid the price for the ropey results after his pay and perks package for last year was slashed from £5.3m to £1.3m.
The company is also clawing back nearly £340,000 in past bonuses Patterson was promised.
“You have to lead by example,” he said.
Other staff are still set to get a bonus, but it will be less than the previous year.
Patterson added: “This has been a challenging year for BT but the company is in a good position.” The catalogue of costs saw annual profits drop 19% to £2.35billion, although sales jumped 27% to £24bn.
On the upside for BT, sales at its mobile giant EE leapt 50% to £1.2bn in the three months to April, with profits up 83%.
BT’s share price crashed 4.5% yesterday – wiping £1.4bn off its stock market value.