TELECOMS giant BT, which has its research and development facility at Adastral Park near Ipswich, today posted a bigger than expected 71% increase in annual profits.

The group’s earnings of �1.7billion topped City expectations, despite a 4% dip in revenues for the year to March 31, to �20.076bn.

Profits benefited from more than �1bn of cost savings across the group, combined with further success in broadboard, with the proportion of users signing up to its own service hitting an eight-year high of 64%.

The group’s retail arm saw its profits rise by 2% to �1.34bn while its Global Services business, which serves businesses and governments internationally, reduced its losses to �141million and saw new orders grow by 10%.

Excluding the effect of exceptional items with the past two year’s figures, BT said adjusted profits were 20% higher at �2.1bn.

“We have delivered profits and free cash flow ahead of expectations for the year, while making significant investment in the business for the future,” said BT chief executive Ian Livingston.

“We expect to continue to grow our profits and free cash flow whilst investing to return BT to growth. These results show we are making progress, but we are well aware there remains a lot more to do,” he added.