BT group's chief executive Gavin Patterson will step down later this year after the British telecom company's chairman said a change in leadership was needed.

Mr Patterson, who has led BT for almost five years, announced 13,000 job cuts last month in an attempt to address multiple pressures on the business. But a failure to hit a revenue target and a disappointing outlook for no profits growth for the next couple of years sent its shares down to five-year lows.

Chairman Jan du Plessis said the board was fully supportive of Patterson’s strategy but that a new leader was needed. “The broader reaction to our recent results announcement has though demonstrated to Gavin and me that there is a need for a change of leadership to deliver this strategy,” he said.

A search for Mr Patterson’s successor had started, the company said, and it expected to have a successor in place during the second half of the year. - Reuters