British telecoms firm BT posts upbeat Q3 earnings

Underlying profit, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), rose 2.0 per cent to 1.55 billion pound (USD 2.46 billion, 1.79 billion eursos) in the three months to December, BT said in a statement.

That compared with 1.52 billion pound in the same period of the group's previous financial year, and beat market expectations of 1.526 billion pound according to analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

Revenues slid six per cent to 4.510 billion pound, but this was above consensus forecasts of 4.485 billion pound.

Pretax profit meanwhile grew seven per cent to 675 million pound while net profits eased 1.0 per cent to 484 million pound.

"We have made progress in a number of areas and delivered solid financial results. These are in line with our expectations for the year, which remain unchanged," said Chief Executive Ian Livingston in the results statement.

In reaction to the results, BT's share price surged to the top of the leaderboard on London's FTSE 100 index.