Outgoing BT boss blasts London investors for ‘short-term’ focus

Outgoing BT boss Philip Jansen has blamed the short-term outlook of UK investors for a dwindling share price.

Jansen, who announced his departure last week, said he was ‘not perfect’ but believed the markets were ‘brutal’ to long-term growth plans. 

He had set his sights on rapid expansion of the telecom giant’s UK fibre internet offering, which has proven increasingly expensive amid high interest rates and labour costs. 

To drive this, Jansen planned to cut 40,000 to 55,000 jobs by 2030.

He removed flagship products, such as with the £600m sale of part of BT Sport to Warner Bros Discovery and the merger of its Global and Enterprise arms.

But shares have dipped by over a third in the past 12 months and over 45 per cent in the last five years.

‘The shareholders totally support the strategy, they’re just disappointed that there aren’t enough people buying the shares and [the market] is focused on the short-term cashflow, which I accept is brutal,’ Jansen told The Sunday Times.

He added: ‘I think the evidence is that the UK public markets, particularly compared to the US, seem to have a focus more on the short term.’

Policymakers have tried to boost the appeal of the City amid an ongoing exodus.