BT Group CEO Allison Kirkby (pictured) set a target of achieving £3 billion in annual cost savings over the next five years, with the company set to continue a modernisation drive and assess various options for its business activities outside the UK.

Speaking in her first annual results call since taking over at the operator earlier this year, Kirkby highlighted 80 per cent of the fresh reductions would come from large projects such as shutting down legacy services, scaling use of shared platforms across the business and measures to simplify the customer experience.

The latest round of cuts are expected to cost £1 billion to implement.

She also noted a focus on BT’s core UK market, with the company “exploring options to optimise our global business”.

Kirkby noted the company achieved its previous target of £3 billion in savings a year ahead of schedule and is still aiming for a previously stated target of reaching a headcount of between 75,000 and 90,000 in 2029.

At end-March, it had 120,000 staff, down 10,000 from the same point in 2023.

In its fiscal 2024 results (for the period to end-March) BT booked a non-cash goodwill impairment of £488 million for its Business division attributed to a decline in profitability over “recent years”.

Revenue was flat at £20.8 billion, with profit down 55 per cent year-on-year to £855 million, attributed to one-off items including the impairment to its Business division.

Kirkby noted the company is moving to the “next phase of BT Group’s transformation”, with the operator beyond its peak capex spend on fibre.

BT upped its dividend by almost 4 per cent for the year, with the executive noting its transformation efforts would leave it “well positioned to generate significant growth for all our stakeholders”.