BT shares rose after the company achieved a landmark cost-cutting target 18 years ahead of schedule.
The telecoms group was the biggest riser on the FTSE 100 after it confirmed weekend reports that it has already slashed costs by £1billion – a goal it was planning to reach by 2023.
This move could strengthen its defense against a possible takeover by Patrick Drahi (French billionaire).
Good call: BT was the biggest riser on the FTSE 100 after it confirmed weekend reports that it has already slashed costs by £1bn – a goal it was planning to reach by 2023
And it comes ahead of BT’s third-quarter results on Thursday. Shares surged by as much as 7 per cent – but pared gains to close up 4.4 per cent, or 6.1p, at 145p.
Drahi became BT’s biggest shareholder when his telecoms group Altice took a 12.1 per cent stake worth £2billion in June.
French multinational telecommunications giant Altice, which has its headquarters in Amsterdam, is bound by City rules not to make a takeover bid for six months – but this expires in December and the company is bracing to fend off an approach.
BT boss Philip Jansen knuckled down on a sweeping modernisation of the company last year, when he set the target to save £1billion by 2023 and £2billion by 2025.
The group is now thought to be mulling whether to increase these goals – though some senior figures are keen to wait to see if 58-year-old Drahi puts forward an offer before making any changes.
BT has already hired boutique investment bank Robey Warshaw, which employs George Osborne, to beef up its defences in case Drahi launches a hostile bid.
Jansen was formerly the boss at Worldpay Payment Processing Group. He took over at BT early 2019, inheriting a modernisation plan initiated by Gavin Patterson to reduce 13,000 job losses and invest in broadband infrastructure.
Since Patterson was replaced by Jansen at 54, shares have plummeted more than a quarter of a percent.
His tenure has been marred in the unexpected departure of Jan du Plessis, chairman of the board, earlier this year after reports of a rift between him and his chief executive.