{"id":587199,"date":"2026-07-15T16:33:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T16:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/587199\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T16:33:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T16:33:32","slug":"citi-flags-pension-risk-to-bt-dividend-hopes-ahead-of-scheme-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/587199\/","title":{"rendered":"Citi flags pension risk to BT dividend hopes ahead of scheme review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Citi<\/a> Citi flags pension risk to BT dividend hopes ahead of scheme review Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock <\/p>\n

BT Group PLC’s (LSE:BT.A)<\/a> pension scheme could swallow billions more than investors expect, according to Citi, which warns the outcome may further delay progress on the dividend. <\/p>\n

The bank, which rates BT a sell with a \u00a31.75 target price, hosted a teach-in on Tuesday with pensions expert John Ralfe. <\/p>\n

BT’s triennial valuation priced at the end of June, with results expected late this year or in early 2027. <\/p>\n

Ralfe believes the actuarial deficit is likely to come in at about \u00a33.3 billion. <\/p>\n

That would be roughly \u00a30.8 billion higher than implied by the recovery plan set out at the 2023 valuation. <\/p>\n

A triennial valuation is a three-yearly health check that schemes must undergo, setting the cash payments an employer makes to close any shortfall. <\/p>\n

Ralfe also pointed to the Low Dependency Funding Basis, a new requirement from The Pensions Regulator designed to move schemes towards a position where they no longer rely on the sponsoring company. <\/p>\n

Meeting it could demand a further \u00a32.5 billion over the next decade, on top of the existing deficit recovery schedule. <\/p>\n

Citi said that money would compete directly with shareholder returns. <\/p>\n

The dividend was the main source of disappointment at BT’s full-year results in May. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Citi flags pension risk to BT dividend hopes ahead of scheme review Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[177],"tags":[249179,79,33195,161268,18,19,17,21562,234,235],"class_list":["post-587199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-bt-group-plc","tag-business","tag-citi","tag-dividend","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-pension-scheme","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116924960163609080","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}