Events in the early days of the new financial year have ensured that we maintain this momentum. In April 2000, we announced the regrouping of our activities into new, self-contained business units, and we were successful in our bid for a UMTS licence to operate the next generation of mobile services in the UK.
Total turnover for 1999/2000 increased by 20 per cent to £21,903 million, including our proportionate share of our ventures’ revenues.
Our share of our ventures’ turnover grew to more than £3 billion, mainly because of the launch of Concert, and from our stakes in Japan Telecom and our mainland European ventures.
However, pre-tax profit (excluding exceptional items and before the charge for goodwill) declined by 5.3 per cent against the 1998/99 results, on a comparable basis, caused partly by a reduction in UK call prices, and a rise in interest costs as a consequence of investment in non-UK ventures, many of which are still in start-up mode.
Your Board is pleased to recommend a final dividend of 13.2 pence per share. This gives a total dividend for the year of 21.9 pence - an increase of 7.4 per cent on 1998/99.
Your company’s performance is the culmination of the efforts of BT people throughout the world. I would like to record here my thanks to them for all that they achieved during the year.
I would also like to welcome the two new non-executive directors who joined the Board during the year - Lou Hughes and June de Moller.
BT is a company that has the potential to change people’s lives and we take our responsibilities to the communities in which we operate very seriously.
We run one of the UK’s largest community partnership programmes and take special care to ensure that our business activities are conducted in an environmentally friendly way.
I am delighted that, during the past year, our achievements in these areas have been widely recognised. In the UK, we won the Business in the Community Company of the Year Award and the Impact on Society Award for our community activities, and we came top of all FT-SE 100 companies in the Business in the Environment index of environmental engagement. We also achieved certification in ISO 14001, the international environmental management system, for our UK operations.
The past year has, of course, seen the beginning of a new millennium. I am delighted that BT has played a major role in marking this event, both at the Greenwich Dome, where our Talk zone has proved immensely popular, and throughout the rest of the UK with our FutureTalk programme, which has highlighted the importance of communication as a key skill for the new millennium.
BT has achieved a great deal over the past year. We have shown that we have the vision, determination and flexibility to succeed in what is proving to be the world’s most exciting and competitive industry. I look forward to further progress in the year ahead.