BT in talks to dial up successor to veteran finance chief

BT Group is scouring for a caller concern main to win the seasoned enforcement who joined the FTSE-100 telecoms institution astir a decennary ago.

Sky News has learnt that Simon Lowth, who joined from BG Group successful 2016, is preparing to measurement down successful the adjacent 12 months.

Industry sources said that Allison Kirkby, who became BT's main enforcement past year, had begun gathering candidates to win Mr Lowth.

An assignment could travel aboriginal this year, they added.

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The identities of the contenders to regenerate Mr Lowth were unclear connected Monday.

Mr Lowth's status volition travel with Deutsche Telekom and the Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal collectively holding much than a 3rd of BT's shares.

Their respective intentions towards their stakes whitethorn assistance signifier the company's medium-term future, with Openreach - BT's infrastructure limb - accelerating its rollout of full-fibre broadband crossed the UK.

BT said: "As portion of its business-as-usual activity, the BT committee undertakes regular succession readying to guarantee it is preparing appropriately for the future."

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The institution declined to remark connected details of the process to place Mr Lowth's successor.

On Monday morning, shares successful BT were trading astatine astir 198.7p, giving it a marketplace worth of astir £20bn.