Jun 9, 2018

Gavin Patterson’s time up as BT looks to future

Gavin Patterson got the news of his departure from BT from its blunt South African chairman Jan du Plessis at a Wednesday meeting at BT's City headquarters. One top-10 investor said that Mr Patterson had failed to understand that shareholders own the company. "In the end the Patterson plan failed to deliver where it matters most to investors - the share price," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, who said BT's value has dropped by almost a quarter since Mr Patterson took over, even factoring in generous dividend payments. No investors were complaining about Mr Patterson during his initial few years in charge, where confidence around his aggressive growth strategy translated into a rising share price and widespread optimism about the future. Sharon White, head of Ofcom, the regulator, recently said BT was in danger of going the same way as Kodak and Polaroid if it missed the fibre revolution, comments that were made at a conference that Mr Patterson had already left.

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