Latest news with #AllisonKirkby
Daily Mail
24-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
BT nabs Virgin Media O2 finance chief Patricia Cobian as broadband customer losses slow
BT Group has recruited Virgin Media O2 exec Patricia Cobian as its first female chief financial officer, taking the helm from long-serving Simon Lowth next year. The FTSE 100 group told shareholders Lowth, who led the telecoms giant's recent cost-cutting measures, will retire next summer following a managed handover. Cobian will then join current chief executive Allison Kirkby, as part of an 'orderly succession plan'. Having served as finance boss of VMO2 since 2021, Cobain previously headed up O2's finances since 2016. She was a key player in the 2020 merger of O2 and Virgin Media. BT boss Kirkby said Cobain's 'leadership, deep industry experience and knowledge will be invaluable', as the group progresses with it upgrade of the UK's digital infrastructure and accelerates its modernisation programme. BT Group shares responded well to the appointment, rising by almost 10 per cent by early afternoon on Thursday. Matt Dorset, analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said Cobian 'clearly knows the sector well'. Kirkby said outgoing Lowth's leadership 'has played a major part in our strategy and transformation to date, as we become a better BT for our customers, our colleagues, the country and our owners.' Separately, the firm posted a three per cent decline in revenue in the first quarter to 30 June, falling to £4.88billion from £5.05billion a year ago. This lower revenue was mainly as a result of weaker handset sales, the BT said, as well as 'challenging international trading'. BT lost 169,000 broadband customers in its first quarter, though this was much lower than analyst expectations. It blamed the losses on a weaker broadband market. 'The improvement in the quarter suggests these pressures may be starting to abate,' Dorset said. UK service revenue fell 1.4 per cent, while its business division saw revenue fall 5.6 per cent. Dorset said: 'The business division also remains the weak with legacy sales continuing to hurt. Consequently, earnings were down 0.5 per cent, but ahead of consensus, as BT impresses with its cost cutting, more than offsetting the National Living Wage and National Insurance increases, and Openreach remains strong.' The firm plans to cut 40,000 jobs and £3billion in costs by 2030. BT said it expects to meet its expectations for the full year, and is on track to hit five million full fibre installations this financial year. Kirkby said: 'BT has had a solid start to the year, with our full fibre broadband now reaching more than 19million homes and businesses and our 5G network available to over 87 per cent of the UK population. We're seeing strong customer demand for our next-generation broadband and mobile connectivity across all our brands, with record Openreach fibre take-up again this quarter. 'BT is investing more than anyone else in the nation's networks, we're connecting customers faster, and we're on track to deliver our targets for this year, next year, and the end of the decade.'
Yahoo
24-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BT names industry veteran Patricia Cobian as first female CFO
(Reuters) -BT Group, Britain's largest broadband and mobile provider, named Patricia Cobian, currently with rival Virgin Media O2, as its first female chief financial officer on Thursday, succeeding long-time finance chief Simon Lowth. The change comes more than a year after CEO Allison Kirkby took the helm at BT amid a transformative plan set in motion by her predecessor Philip Jansen. Lowth, who became CFO in July 2016, played a key role in implementing the company's cost-cutting measures and sharpening its strategic focus. BT has been investing heavily in its British fibre network, which now covers more than 19 million premises. It also plans to cut more than 40,000 jobs and about 3 billion pounds ($4.07 billion) in costs by 2030, and possibly shed its foreign business to sharpen domestic focus. "(Cobian's) leadership, deep industry experience and knowledge will be invaluable, as we continue our once-in-a-generation upgrade of the UK's digital infrastructure and accelerate BT's modernisation," CEO Kirkby said in a statement. BT separately reported a 1% decline in first-quarter core profit, weighed down by falling legacy voice services and handset sales, which offset cost cuts and demand for its fibre broadband services. However, the company said it was on track to meet its full-year outlook. After serving as finance chief for Telefonica's UK mobile network O2 since 2016, Cobian moved into the same position at Virgin Media O2 in 2021, following the 50-50 joint venture between Telefonica and Liberty Global. Cobian will join BT next summer, coinciding with Lowth's retirement. The appointment was first reported by The Telegraph on Wednesday. ($1 = 0.7371 pounds) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BT in talks to dial up successor to veteran finance chief
BT Group is scouring for a new finance chief to succeed the veteran executive who joined the FTSE-100 telecoms company nearly a decade ago. Sky News has learnt that Simon Lowth, who joined from BG Group in 2016, is preparing to step down in the next 12 months. Industry sources said that Allison Kirkby, who became BT's chief executive last year, had begun meeting candidates to succeed Mr Lowth. An appointment could come later this year, they added. Money blog: Funeral director on why she speaks to dead people The identities of the contenders to replace Mr Lowth were unclear on Monday. Mr Lowth's retirement will come with Deutsche Telekom and the Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal collectively holding more than a third of BT's shares. Their respective intentions towards their stakes may help shape the company's medium-term future, with Openreach - BT's infrastructure arm - accelerating its rollout of full-fibre broadband across the UK. BT said: "As part of its business-as-usual activity, the BT board undertakes regular succession planning to ensure it is preparing appropriately for the future." Read more from Sky News: The company declined to comment on details of the process to identify Mr Lowth's successor. On Monday morning, shares in BT were trading at about 198.7p, giving it a market value of about £20bn.
Sky News
21-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News
BT in talks to dial up successor to veteran finance chief
BT Group is scouring for a new finance chief to succeed the veteran executive who joined the FTSE-100 telecoms company nearly a decade ago. Sky News has learnt that Simon Lowth, who joined from BG Group in 2016, is preparing to step down in the next 12 months. Industry sources said that Allison Kirkby, who became BT's chief executive last year, had begun meeting candidates to succeed Mr Lowth. An appointment could come later this year, they added. The identities of the contenders to replace Mr Lowth were unclear on Monday. Mr Lowth's retirement will come with Deutsche Telekom and the Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal collectively holding more than a third of BT's shares. Their respective intentions towards their stakes may help shape the company's medium-term future, with Openreach - BT's infrastructure arm - accelerating its rollout of full-fibre broadband across the UK. BT said: "As part of its business-as-usual activity, the BT board undertakes regular succession planning to ensure it is preparing appropriately for the future." The company declined to comment on details of the process to identify Mr Lowth's successor.
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Number of new UK entry-level jobs has fallen since ChatGPT launch
The number of new entry-level UK jobs has dropped by almost a third since the launch of ChatGPT, new figures suggest, as companies use AI to cut back the size of their workforces. Vacancies for graduate jobs, apprenticeships, internships and junior jobs with no degree requirement have dropped 32% since the launch of the AI chatbot in November 2022, research by the job search site Adzuna released on Monday has found. These entry-level jobs now account for 25% of the market in the UK, down from 28.9% in 2022. It comes as businesses increasingly look to AI as a route to improve efficiency and reduce staff numbers. This month the chief executive of BT, Allison Kirkby, said advances in AI could presage deeper job cuts at the telecoms company, after it outlined plans two years ago to shed between 40,000 and 55,000 workers. Meanwhile, Dario Amodei, the boss of the $61bn (£44.5bn) AI developer Anthropic, has warned the technology could wipe out half of all entry-level office jobs in the next five years, and push up unemployment by between 10% and 20%. The figures from Adzuna follow a separate warning from its rival job search site Indeed, which reported last week that university graduates are facing the toughest job market since 2018. It found the number of roles advertised for recent graduates had fallen 33% in mid-June compared with the same point last year. Big companies are increasingly relying on AI for jobs once reserved for humans. Klarna, the buy now, pay later fintech company, has said its AI assistant now manages two-thirds of its customer service queries. The US technology company IBM has said it is using AI agents to take on the work of hundreds of HR staff, although as a result it has hired more programmers and salespeople. It is still a matter of debate whether AI will do more to create or destroy human jobs. The International Monetary Fund has estimated that 60% of jobs in advanced economies such as the US and UK are exposed to AI, and that half of these jobs may be negatively affected. However, the Tony Blair Institute has said potential job losses in the private sector could be mitigated by AI creating new roles. A recent report by the consultancy PwC found that workers with AI skills were being paid 56% more than those without knowledge of the technology last year, compared with 25% the year prior. It also found that the mix of skills sought by employers is changing 66% faster in occupations most exposed to AI, such as financial analysts, than in those least exposed roles, such as physical therapists. This could mean that workers find it more difficult to keep up with changing demands for new skills. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion This month Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, said workers and businesses should 'act now' on getting to grips with AI, or risk being left behind. He said: 'I think most people are approaching this with trepidation. Once they start [using AI], it turns to exhilaration, because it is a lot more straightforward than people realise, and it is far more rewarding than people expect.'
