BT profits surge by 48%

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Pre-tax profits leapt 48% to £652 million in the three months to December on sales of £4.77 billion, down 5%.

Chief executive Ian Livingston, pictured, improved margins sharply and now expects to hit 2013 profit targets a year earlier than expected. BT added 262,000 broadband home and business customers, taking its base to 6.1 million, underlining its position as the UK's biggest broadband provider.

It also added 39,000 subscribers to its BT Vision pay-TV service, against rival BSkyB's 40,000 in the same period.

International orders from corporate customers in Asia-Pacific and Latin America are up more than 50%. Turnover fell as regulation pushed down prices and customers made fewer calls.

Some analysts were concerned about the pension deficit jumping to £4.1 billion from £1.5 billion nine months earlier. BT blamed a double-whammy of falling bond yields, which means income is lower, and rising inflation, which increases payouts to pensioners.

Broker Espírito Santo warned if the deficit persists, "it would negatively impact our valuation by around 16p per share".

The shares rose 6.8p to 212.7p.