Profit on sale of group undertakings and fixed asset investments

In the 2003 financial year a number of remaining non-core investments were sold. The consideration for the disposals totalled £3,028 million and the profit before taxation from disposals totalled £1,691 million. This was principally in relation to the disposal of our 26% interest in Cegetel, a French telecommunications operator, on 22 January 2003. The total proceeds were £2,603 million, received in cash, and the profit was £1,509 million before the recognition of an exceptional interest charge of £293 million on closing out fixed interest rate swaps following receipt of the sale proceeds.

A major feature of the 2002 financial year was the successful disposal of many non-core businesses. The consideration for these disposals totalled £8.0 billion as shown in the table below.

BT completed the sale to Vodafone of its 20% economic interest in Japan Telecom and its 20% interest in J-Phone Communications on 1 June 2001 and subsequently its interest in J-Phone group companies. The total proceeds of sale were £3,709 million received in cash, and the profit was £2,358 million.

The sale of Yell, BT’s classified advertising directory businesses in the UK and the USA, was completed on 22 June 2001 for a consideration of £1,960 million, giving a profit of £1,128 million. In May 2001, the UK Office of Fair Trading announced that the price controls over the UK Yellow Pages advertising rates were to be tightened significantly. The price we achieved for the sale of Yell, which was announced on 26 May 2001, reflected the impact of these controls on Yell’s prospects.

BT completed the sale of its 18% interest in Airtel, a major Spanish wireless operator, to Vodafone for £1,084 million on 29 June 2001. The profit of £844 million on the sale compares with BT’s investment in the company of £223 million, built up during the 1990s.

In November 2001, BT completed the sale of its 33% interest in Maxis Communications of Malaysia for £350 million, which broadly equated with its carrying value. We completed the sale of our interest in Rogers Wireless to AT&T for £267 million on 29 June 2001 and recognised a loss of £23 million.

BT’s interest in BiB was diluted in July 2000 when BSkyB gained control and in May 2001 we agreed to exchange our residual interest in BiB for tranches of shares in BSkyB. We received the first tranche of 19 million BSkyB shares with an initial value of £128 million on 28 June 2001. We were required to hold 50% of this tranche until May 2002 and recognised a profit on these shares when they were sold in May 2002. We also received the second tranche of BSkyB shares with a similar value in November 2002, and they were sold at that time. The profit of £120 million recognised in the 2002 financial year relates to the BSkyB shares which we were permitted to sell on receipt. In the 2003 financial year a profit on disposal of BSkyB shares of £131 million was recognised.

In December 2001, BT completed the sale of its wholly owned subsidiary company, Clear Communications Limited, which operates a communications network in New Zealand, for consideration of £119 million. A loss of £126 million has been recognised on this sale of which £45 million relates to goodwill taken directly to reserves before April 1998.

In February 2002, we completed the sale of our 50% interest in e-peopleserve, a major human resource outsourcing activity, to our joint-venture partner, Accenture, for initial consideration of £50 million. BT is entitled to receive additional payments from an earn-out arrangement based on e-peopleserve’s revenues from customers other than BT and Accenture over the five years to 2007. These additional earn-out payments will total between £27 million and approximately £167 million. A profit of £61 million on this transaction has been recognised in the 2002 financial year based on the initial consideration and the discounted value of the additional minimum payments of £20 million.

In addition, in the 2002 financial year we recognised an impairment charge of £347 million in relation to the fixed asset investment in AT&T Canada, as noted above, and £157 million in relation to Impsat.

In the 2001 financial year, we sold our 34% interest in sunrise communications of Switzerland to another joint venture partner in November 2000 for £464 million, realising a profit of £454 million. This was the main element in the total profit from disposals of group undertakings and fixed asset investments of £619 million in that year. Other profits during the year were principally derived from the disposal of certain of our aeronautical and maritime interests, the sale of an interest in I.Net by way of a public offering, the reduction of our equity interest in BiB to below 20% and the sale of minor equity investments.

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