Long-suffering BT shareholders will be adopting the brace position for full year results due to be released this Thursday.
The stock has been an unmitigated disaster for investors, who have seen declines of 31% over the past year and a share price approaching levels not seen since the company was listed in the 1980s.
Meaningful growth has been elusive for the company in recent years, and 2024 results aren’t going to break the trend of tepid earnings updates.
Investors will be looking for growth in the number of retail and business customers at EE as the company continues the rollout of its fibre network.
BT’s fiscal 2024 results are expected to show growth in both sales and adjusted EBITDA. Consensus forecasts point to a 2.1% increase in sales to £20.9bn for the 2024 full year. Adjusted EBITDA is projected to rise 2% to £8.1bn during the full-year period.
This isn’t bad, but it’s not good by any stretch.
For 2025, analysts anticipate even slower growth, with a consensus of a 0.8% gain in sales to £2bn and a 1.4% increase in adjusted EBITDA to £8.3bn.
BT expects £5bn in capital investment for fiscal 2024, down from £5.3bn a year ago, as the company guides for fiscal 2024 free cash flow in the range of £1bn to £1.2bn, lower than £1.3bn in the prior year.
The only thing BT really has going for it is the dividend, which is expected to be maintained at 7.7p. It must, however, be noted that BT has cut its dividend in recent years, so the current yield is far from secure if performance doesn’t pick up.