BT Group contributes nearly £1bn to Welsh economy
BT Group is now responsible for generating £1 in every £70 produced in the Welsh economy, according to an independent report published today.
‘The Economic Impact of BT Group plc in the UK’ report, by Hatch Regeneris, shows that the communications company generated a £900 million contribution – expressed as “Gross Value Added” (GVA)* – to Wales’s economy during the 2017/18 financial year.
The report estimates that the equivalent of 11,600 full-time jobs in Wales are supported through BT’s direct employment, its spending with contractors and suppliers and the spending of its employees.
BT Group directly employs 4,263 people in Wales, with a further 136 employed as contractors. It’s estimated that BT Group supports one in every 70 employees working in Wales’s private sector, reinforcing its position as one of the nation’s biggest private sector employers.
The Group also spent £302 million with suppliers based in Wales.
Across the UK, BT Group directly employed 94,800 people (FTE) and supported an estimated total of 290,000 full-time jobs. It also generated, in total, almost £23bn (£22.8bn) to the UK economy.
The report includes the contribution of all parts of BT Group, including Openreach, mobile network provider EE and BT’s Consumer and Enterprise divisions.
BT Group employs people in all parts of Wales, with significant offices in Cardiff and Swansea. In north Wales, BT's call centre in Bangor is one of the UK's major 999 emergency locations and handles more than a million calls a year.
EE, the UK’s number one mobile network and part of BT Group, employs around a thousand employees in Wales, including at its contact centre in Merthyr Tydful. In 2017, EE became the first UK mobile network operator to offer customer service in Welsh.
Last year, it was announced that Cardiff will be one of the first UK cities to be used as launch locations for EE’s new 5G network, later this year.
Tim Fanning, Director at Hatch Regeneris, said: “Our analysis underlines how vast BT Group’s contribution is to the UK economy, particularly across the nations and regions.
“BT Group is almost unique in contributing to the economies of virtually every community across the UK, supporting significant levels of GVA spend and employment opportunities per region.”
The report from Hatch Regeneris comes in addition to a recent report by PWC1 which highlighted that BT Group is the 5th highest tax contributor in the UK among FTSE 100 companies, and the highest contributor among non-financial companies. The PWC report also identified BT as the largest capital expenditure investor in the UK.
Jane Wood, BT Group UK nations and regions director, said: “Few companies play as important a role in Wales as BT Group. Not only does BT connect friends, families and businesses across the country, but we also put premium fuel in the tank of the nation’s economy. The report shows that BT generates £1 in every £70 of wealth in Wales.
“We’re proud to be one of the nation’s largest private sector employers and investors. Our investments, including the latest 5G mobile technology through our mobile network EE, will ensure Wales continues to be one of the best-connected economies.
“With around 4,400 people directly employed in Wales, spending their salaries in local businesses, as well as regularly volunteering on activities such as our Barefoot tech literacy programme in schools, our people are at the heart of nearly every community.”
The report highlights that, across Wales in 2017/18, BT Group:
Directly employed a total of 4,400 people (FTE, including contractors) and supported an estimated 11,600 full-time jobs
Spent £300 million with suppliers based in Wales
Generated £900 million total GVA impact (including indirect and induced effects)
Directly employed 1 in every 180 employees in the private sector across Wales, and 1 in every 10 in the IT and Communications sectors
Supported £1 in every £70 of GVA in the Welsh economy and 1 in every 70 employees working in the nation’s private sector.
Across the UK in 2017/18, BT Group:
Directly employed 94,800 people (FTE) and supported an estimated total of 290,000 full-time jobs
Employees committed more than 37,000 volunteering days to worthy causes
Spent £510 million on research and development, making it one of the UK’s top investors in innovation
The full report is available at: www.bt.com/reports
ENDS
Notes to Editors
*Gross Value Added (GVA) measures the value of all goods and services produced in an economy. GVA combines wages and operating profits from companies and other organisations. Growing GVA can reflect improvements in workforce skills, productivity, R&D and innovation. The figures for BT show the value added directly through BT's services and additional value generated through BT's suppliers across the nations and regions.
1 PWC Total Tax Contribution of UK FTSE100 companies 2018. BT is:
5th highest contributor (amongst FTSE100 respondents) of UK taxes (borne and collected) – with the 4 slots above BT occupied by banks (HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, RBS);
4th highest payer of UK wages and salaries;
2nd highest overall distributor of “value” into the UK, where value is the sum of taxes borne, taxes collected, wages and salaries paid, interest paid, and equity returns (which are available for reinvestment, dividends and pension deficit payments) ;
Highest capex investor.
