BT is considering cutting several thousand more jobs to reduce costs during this new fiscal year. The Financial Times the cuts are not expected to be as high as the 10,000 it cut in the financial year, which ended at the beginning of April.
BT's share price has recently been the lowest since its privatisation in the 1980s, with the company issuing profits warnings, dragged down by the high costs at it Global Services units whose remit is to deliver ITC services to multinationals around the world. The unit is also being sued by Magenta netLogic for up to £88 million ($123 million) in damages. It also looks like it will have to make a multi-million pound write-off concerning its involvement in the UK's £12.7 billion National Health Service computer upgrade programme, which is massively over budget and behind schedule.
In addition, BT's pension scheme, the largest private scheme in the UK, went into deficit last year: the Guardian reports analysts saying BT's annual contributions to its pension scheme will need to double, at the very least, to between £500m and £1bn.
BT has already introduced a pay freeze for 85,000 UK staff, including senior management, while rates for contractors have been cut by 30%.
The group's full-year results will be presented on May 14. The FT says analysts are expecting write-off charges of more than £1 billion (€1.115 billion).