Revenues up 26% to €470m at BT's Irish business

BT's Irish business has reported a 26 per cent rise in revenues to €470 million in the year to March, with sales rising by more than 10 per cent in each of its individual units.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were €34 million. EBITDA in the previous year were €43 million, or €31 million excluding two one-off items. BT Ireland does not publish its bottom line figures, but chief executive Danny McLoughlin said the company was profitable in the fourth quarter last year.

The strongest performer was the company's corporate unit, where revenues grew 22 per cent on the back of new contracts with groups such as Analog Devices, Bank of Scotland (Ireland) and Cork County Council.

In addition to publishing its financials, BT said it had been selected as the multiplex and network service provider for a two-year Government pilot programme to introduce digital terrestrial television. The value of the contract was not disclosed but company had been considered a strong contender as its parent division built the ITV Digital network in Britain.

Mr McLoughlin said BT had yet to receive assurances from Eircom that would enable the company to return to talks on the issue of access to Eircom's network.

"We've made progress but we're not quite there yet," he said.

The company said it had been shortlisted for a multi-million-euro Department of Justice contract to provide a new "blue light" communications network for the Garda, fire and ambulance services. The contract could be worth €250 million over 10 years.

BT's partners in this bid are Siemens and EADS, the aerospace company that co-owns Airbus. Rival bidders include Eircom and O2.

Mr McLoughlin also said the company expected to tender to provide the Government's virtual private network, a system that facilitates confidential communications between Government departments.

"It'll be coming in the next couple of months. Clearly we're very interested in winning this kind of business. We would expect to compete very strongly for it."

Worth some €60 million, the contract is currently held by Eircom but it is likely to go to tender this summer.

Some sources believe the Department of Finance may choose to break the contract in three to foster competition in the sector.