BT Group outlines share buyback

Sales are down but profits are up at BT Group

BT Group has announced plans for a share buyback programme aimed at boosting its dividend.

The news came as the UK fixed-line telecoms group unveiled a 7% rise in pre-tax profits to £529m ($887m).

Despite a 2% drop in second-quarter turnover, BT announced an interim dividend of 3.2p per share.

Reduced interest payments and cost cuts helped the company boost underlying earnings per share by 19% to 4.4p - at the top end of expectations.

BT said its full-year payout would represent 50% of earnings and added it was targeting a further dividend increase to 60% of earnings by March 2006.