Broadband and mobile provider BT broadly met market forecasts with a 25% rise in third-quarter pretax profit and said it remained confident about its full-year outcome.
Pretax profit for the quarter was £660m on revenue of £5.97 billion, down 3% on a year earlier, it said today.
"Our third quarter financial results are broadly in line with our expectations and we remain confident in our outlook for the full year," BT's chief executive Gavin Patterson said.
Patterson has had to balance multiple demands on BT's cash flow - including investing in fibre networks, securing Premier League soccer rights for its TV service and plugging a hole in its pension.
The company is also trying to maintain its progressive dividend policy.
BT is also restructuring its Global Services division, the source of a profit warning in its previous financial year, against a backdrop of tough market conditions.
It said the order intake for the division in the third quarter was down 25%.
"We are delivering against our strategy, capitalising on opportunities and responding to market challenges with a robust set of actions," Patterson said.
The company's outlook for the full year sees broadly flat underlying revenue and core earnings falling to between £7.5-7.6 billion.
Analysts doubt it can meet its earnings target though, predicting they will come in below that range at £7.475 billion pounds, according to Thomson Reuters data.
