BT's Endless Torment

Britain's biggest telecoms provider, BT Group Plc, has been having a terrible time of it lately. Its shares are the fourth-worst performer on the FTSE 100 so far this year, and the worst among European industry peers. On Friday, it reported financial first-quarter results that reveal how hard it will be to change investors' minds about its prospects.

While the consumer business, which sells mobile and broadband services to increasingly cost-conscious Brits, is actually doing alright, BT's divisions that serve U.K. public sector customers and multinational corporations abroad are under-performing. Chief Executive Officer Gavin Patterson neglected these duller parts of the company last year as he focused on integrating BT's 12.5 billion-pound ($16.4 billion) acquisition of mobile player EE and fighting a drawn-out battle with regulators over Openreach.