BT Euro boss out as shares dive
January 24, 2017
The boss of BT’s Continental European operation, Corrado Sciolla, is set to resign as the telco is forced to write down £530 million (€615m) after years of “inappropriate behaviour” in the Italian subsidiary.
BT’s shares plunged 18 per cent – the biggest fall ever – after revealing the Italian scandal would cost far more than the £145 million initially anticipated.
The investigation of BT’s Italian business, which included an independent review by accountancy firm KPMG, found improper accounting practices and “a complex set of improper sales, purchase, factoring and leasing transactions”.
From 2006, Corrado was chief executive of BT Italy in 2013, he was appointed as president of BT’s Continental Europe operation, where he reported to Luiz Alvarez, tchief executive of the company’s global services business.
In addition to its problems in Italy, BT also said the outlook for the UK public sector and international corporate markets had “deteriorated”. As a result, BT now expects operating profit for the current financial year to be £7.6 billion, compared to previously guidance of £7.9 billion, and revenue to be flat. It also forecasts that both sales and profit will be flat for the year to March 2018.