Market reacts positively to BT's Q1 results

(By Richard Holway 8.30am Thursday 30th July 09) BT's results for Q1 (to 30th June 09) showed revenues of £5.2b - up 1% but down 3% excluding currency etc. PBT fell 45% to £272m.

But the market seems to like what it reads. BT's shares are up 12% at 126p in early trading (9.00am). That means BT is up 75% since its 3rd March 09 low of 72p.

At BT Global Services, revenues were up 4% at £2079m but down 4% excluding currency fluctuations. "The underlying decline is largely due to the impact of mobile termination rate reductions and lower call volumes in continental Europe and the continued decline in our UK calls and lines business. "

BTGS reported an operating loss of £124m - they made a minimal £1m profit in Q1 last year. However EBITDA of £62m was double that in Q4 - so the direction looks positive. BTGS says that "underlying operating costs of £1,853m for the quarter increased by only 1% representing continued improvement in the sequential trend from the previous two quarters." Bluntly I expected a significant decrease particularly as BTGS reports that "total labour resource was reduced by around 2,300 in the quarter. "

But at least at this stage there is no further news of write offs or other disasters. We'll bring you further news - particularly relating to BTGS in the UK - later.