BT seals Warner Bros sports venture
BT Group has agreed to form a sports joint venture with Warner Bros Discovery in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
The telecoms giant confirmed the deal as it reported that trading is “on the right track” despite a dip in revenues for the past year.
In February, the group said it was in exclusive negotiations with the US media giant after reviewing BT Sport. It confirmed it will form a 50-50 joint venture which will ultimately bring together BT Sport and Eurosport although the two brands will initially stay separate.
The London-listed firm said it will immediately receive £93 million from Warner Bros Discovery, and up to £540m if future conditions are met.
The confirmation came as BT told shareholders it met expectations with a 2 per cent increase in earnings to £7.6 billion for the year to March, as cost savings offset lower revenues.
It said it will extend its cost savings plans to save £2.5bn by the end of 2025, amending previous targets of £2bn in savings by 2024.
Cost reductions have helped the company absorb some inflation pressures, it added.
Revenues for the year dropped by 2 per cent to £20.8bn, driven by lower sales in its enterprise and global
businesses, although the firm benefited from a strong performance by its Openreach network business.
It added that its consumer business, which is focused on the EE mobile brand, returned to growth in the final quarter.
John Moore, investment manager at Brewin Dolphin, said: “BT has been through a highly challenging period but today’s results tentatively suggest there are signs of more encouraging times ahead for shareholders. The joint venture
with Warner Bros Discovery is a potentially exciting development in a highly competitive market and continues to differentiate BT’S entertainment offering.
"Meanwhile, Openreach’s strong performance and the reinstatement of the dividend, despite the expected dip in revenues, are also positives.”
Walid Koudmani, analyst at XTB, noted: “While the general market sentiment remains uncertain, today’s report appears to have inspired confidence
when it comes to the future performance of BT.”
Btchiefexecutivephilipjansen said: “BT Group has again delivered a strong operational performance. We have finalised the sports joint venture with Warner Bros Discovery to improveourcontentofferingto customers, aligning our business with a new global content powerhouse. Separately, we havestrengthenedourstrategic partnership and key customer relationship with Sky.”
Jansen said BT has not seen
customers axing subscriptions in response to cost-of-living pressures.
“No,wehaven’tseenanything to suggest we are seeing that yet,” he said. “We have been consistent that we recognise the pressure across all our customers so we are focusing hard onprioritisingvalueformoney.
“We have made a necessary increase to prices but have improved what people can get for that cost as well.”