By Julian Goldsmith, 13 November 1998 00:20
NEWS BT has released its half-year financial results ending 30 September, indicating that during that period, it made nearly £120 every second. Profits after tax for the last six months amounted to a staggering £2.6bn - due partly to the sell off of its MCI shareholding early this fiscal year. Inland call turnover increased by 2 per cent to £2.54bn, but call volume increased by 6 per cent. BT attributed this to its strategy of steadily cutting domestic tariffs. The turnover of its data services increased by 37 per cent to £812m. The greatest part of BT's recent wealth comes from the one off windfall from its withdrawal from the MCI merger, and the question remains how the company will spend it. Apart from making oblique hints at acquisitions in the Far East and Europe, BT remains tight-lipped about where the money would go. The report apportioned £150m towards extracting Concert from MCI and integrating it with its joint venture with AT&T. David Brown, chairman of research house Schema, said: "Losing MCI from its grasp has made BT rethink its international strategy. The deal it has with AT&T has got to work and it's going to have to invest a lot of money in it for that to happen. "It also has a lot of joint ventures in Europe and it's going to invest in cultivating those - although I don't think it will go so far as outright acquisition. BT is more likely to strengthen second or third place operators, so that they are real competition to the country's incumbent operator."
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