Telecom’s operator BT have issued what many will see as a shocking profit warning, which saw shares plummet by almost a fifth as a result.

The company announces its results for the third quarter on the 13th of November, but it told the London Stock Exchange earlier today that although revenues has grown with expectations, they have missed their profit targets, notably in BT’s Global Services sector.

Global Services grew revenues by 15 percent but Ebitda is below expectations at £120m. The company blamed a decline on high margin UK business and the no show of expected efficiency savings for the shortfall.

The retail, wholesale and OpenReach aspects of BT’s business all brought in revenue growth on target. Overall the company expect revenues have grown faster than expected but earnings per share are slightly below expectations.

Ian Livingstone, BT’s chief executive, said: “BT is performing in line with or ahead of expectations in all but one of its divisions, so the results in BT Global Services are particularly disappointing. We acknowledge that the performance in this part of the group is unsatisfactory and are committed to taking decisive action to rectify the situation.”

The company announced a share dividend of 5.4p, which is down on last year.

British Telecom’s Global Services boss has got himself in hot water after the announcement that they missed profit targets for the division. Francois Barrault quit his position as a member of BT’s board of directors, to be replaced by finance director Hanif Lalani. Ray Leclercq will move from his position as chief financial officer at OpenReach to become CFO at BT Global Services.