BT swings back into full-year profit

UK telecoms company BT said it made a profit of just over £1bn ($1.49bn) in the year to 31 March, compared with a loss of £244m during the previous year.

Over the past two years, BT has cut cost, including the lay-off of about 35,000 staff - a fifth of its workforce.

BT is now ready to invest another £1bn in superfast broadband, said chief executive, Ian Livingston.

The results sent the shares sharply higher in early trading.

BT said the £1bn investment, on top of an already announced £1.5bn spend, would mean two thirds of UK homes would have access to super-fast broadband by 2015.

It said four million homes will have access to superfast broadband by the end of this year.

The faster broadband will support BT's plan to expand its television offering, which is currently based around its on-demand digital TV service BT Vision.

Some 20,000 of the jobs cut came during the past year. As a result BT now has a quantity of vacant space in its properties.

BT operates in 170 countries and says one of its key plans involves investing in its global services business.