LONDON - A strong performance by the broadband business helped British telecommunications company BT PLC report a 41 per cent increase in net profit in the three months ending Dec. 31.
BT said Friday that after-tax profit for the period, the company's third quarter, was 491 million pounds ($777 million), up from 418 million pounds a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, net profit was up 14 per cent to 476 million pounds.
Revenue was down 5 per cent to 4.77 billion pounds even though OpenReach, the unit providing broadband connections, reported a 5 per cent revenue gain to 1.3 billion pounds; other business sectors including retail and wholesale were down between 4 per cent and 8 per cent.