One of the top investors in BT – with control of a stake worth hundreds of millions of pounds – urged the company to replace CEO Gavin Patterson as the operator continues to struggle, The Telegraph reported.
The newspaper reported anonymous comments from the unnamed investor outlining the belief Patterson was not the right man for the BT job. The shareholder added the company should have appointed someone who could “take on a regulator, not a retailer and marketer”.
Its report comes as BT continues to endure a torrid period, with the impact of an Italian accounting scandal leading the company to its lowest share price since 2013 during mid-June.
In the aftermath of the scandal, the company announced 4,000 job cuts as it reported a near 50 per cent drop in net income for its fiscal Q4 – ending March 2017. During the same quarter, the company was hit with a £42 million fine from regulator Ofcom for failings in its wholesale division.
BT’s earnings took a further hammering in its fiscal Q1 (calendar Q2) as it had to pay off major investors Orange and Deutsche Telekom for the company’s poor share performance, under a clause related to shares the latter pair acquired in part payment for EE.
EE itself performed well since its acquisition by BT and will form a key part of the company’s new Consumer unit, which will bring together the wireless service with its residential fixed and internet divisions.
Despite the company’s problems, The Telegraph claims the executive still holds the full support of the board.
Patterson’s background is in media and marketing. He is currently the president of UK trade body the Advertising Association and previously worked as European head of marketing for haircare products at consumer goods firm Procter & Gamble, before leading cable company Telewest’s TV arm.
The executive has led BT since September 2013, overseeing a number of changes including the reintroduction of consumer mobile services. This was initially under the BT brand, before the completion of the £12.5 billion purchase of EE from Orange and Deutsche Telekom in January 2016.
However, his tenure also involved regular clashes with regulator Ofcom and rival companies around spinning-off of wholesale broadband operation Openreach – a move the company finally agreed to in March.
Photo: Gavin Patterson
