*

Full-year core earnings edge up 1%, revenue slips 2%

*

Seeing strong demand for fibre, with record take-up

*

Says nothing new to say on TNT Sports joint venture

*

Shares fall 3%

(Adds CEO comments in paragraphs 4-5, shares in paragraph 9,

comments on sports joint-venture in paragraphs 10-11)

By Paul Sandle

LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) - BT, Britain's biggest

mobile and broadband provider, said strong demand for fibre

broadband and more than 900 million pounds of costs savings

helped shore up its full-year earnings and boost cash flow.

The company has invested in a fibre network that now covers

18 million premises. It said on Thursday that quarterly net

additions had exceeded 500,000 for the first time, with more

than 6.5 million now connected.

Resilience in its Openreach networks arm offset revenue

and earnings declines in its business and consumer units, which

saw legacy voice services continue to wane and lower handset

sales.

Chief Executive Allison Kirkby said momentum in fibre

enabled BT to increase its target to reach 5 million premises

this year, putting it "comfortably on track" for 25 million by

end-2026, while maintaining its cash flow guidance.

"Fibre is a growth engine for BT as it is for the

country, and we're uniquely positioned now to deliver at scale,

with ambition and with urgency, the nationwide fibre platform

that we've always been aiming for," Kirkby told reporters.

BT reported core earnings of 8.21 billion pounds ($11

billion), up 1% on the previous year but shy of analysts'

expectations of 8.23 billion pounds. Revenue fell 2%.

Cash flow increased 25% to 1.60 billion pounds, and BT

said it was on track for its target of 2 billion pounds in its

2027 financial year and 3 billion pounds by the end of the

decade.

It forecast about 20 billion pounds of revenue and

8.2-8.3 billion pounds of core earnings this year.

Shares in BT, which have risen 27% in the last 12

months, traded down 3%.

An FT report on Saturday said BT was nearing a deal to

sell its 50% stake in TNT Sports to partner Warner Bros

Discovery ( WBD ).

Kirkby said there was nothing new to say, adding that

the next call option window for the U.S. company to buy the

stake was in the next calendar year.

($1 = 0.7450 pounds)