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Analysts believe BT's sale of its fleet solutions business could aid the latter's stated expansion plans.

According to reports, the telecoms giant has appointed investment bank Lazard to oversee the sale of BT Fleet Solutions, with a price tag of £200m.

BT Fleet Solutions oversees BT’s 33,000-strong fleet and provides fleet management services for 120,000 vehicles, including more than 7,000 trucks. The firm also runs 65 of its own garages and has a nationwide network of 500 partner garages.

The potential sale follows a major review of BT Group under new chief executive Philip Jansen. The CEO is looking to cut costs at the company, which saw its profit fall by 42% last year after it lost £530m in connection to an accounting fraud at BT Italia.

The company has been on an expansion drive, buying SEV Automotive and Plant last year, expanding its garage network, strengthening its mobile vehicle maintenance and servicing offering, while adding HGV capability to more of its garages.

Guy Peddy, analyst at Macquarie Group, told MT: “BT said it would review its non-core assets. BT Fleet is non-core and it clearly has a large fleet and its third party work is growing, so you have to ask yourself does it make sense being owned by a Telco? I don’t think so.”

James Barford, head of telecoms research at Enders Analysis, said a sale would allow BT Fleet Solutions to be more competitive.

“This could open up more opportunities to bid for other fleet management deals, such as the fleets of BT’s rivals,” he said.

In regards the sale, a BT spokeswoman said only that “BT does not comment on rumour or speculation”.

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