BT halved its dividend, cut 15,000 jobs, and rebuilt profit to £2.1B by 2011

BT's fiscal 2009 (ended March 2009) produced an annual loss of £134 million after BT Global Services lost £1.28 billion on over-optimistic contracts. CEO Ian Livingston apologised for more than halving the dividend to 6.5p, cut 15,000 more jobs and launched a cost program worth more than £1 billion, per The Guardian.

Livingston, CEO since June 2008, restructured Global Services, cut costs and pushed fibre broadband. By fiscal 2011 the results turned: revenue of £20,076 million, adjusted pre-tax profit up 20% to £2,083 million, and the full-year dividend raised 7% to 7.4p, per BT's results release.

City A.M. reported adjusted pre-tax profits up 20% to about £2 billion on £1.1 billion of savings, with the pension deficit falling sharply as assets recovered.

Adjusted pre-tax profit rose 20% to £2,083M (FY2011); the dividend was restored to 7.4p; savings of about £1.1B in the year.

Fixing Global Services first stopped the cash leak, as chairman Rake said.

The £1 billion+ cost program lowered the breakeven before revenue returned.

Restoring the dividend only after the pension deficit eased made it credible.

Fibre broadband gave BT a growth story to pair with cost discipline.

When a services misstep breaks the numbers, cut costs and the dividend decisively, fix the broken division first, and rebuild payouts from a sustainable base.

BT grew profits and dividends again in 2012 and 2013 as fibre broadband scaled, and the cost discipline built in 2009–2011 became the template for its later restructuring.