The army of small shareholders in BT Group will be none too happy with the suspension of their dividend payments, even if they understand the reasons why.
Not only is it the first time that Britain’s biggest telecommunications group has scrapped a full year’s payout since it was privatised in 1984, but also when the payments resume in 12 months or so, they will be at half their most recent level.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the owners of O2 and Virgin Media last week agreed to merge their two British operating businesses, meaning that the competition for BT is about to hot up.
The next five or so years, moreover, are going to be an expensive period of hard graft as the
