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BT was once emblematic of the privatisation boom over which Margaret Thatcher's government presided in the 1980s.

Although the later privatisation of British Gas in 1986 attracted more shareholders, BT was the first bastion of popular capitalism, with more than 2.1 million people buying shares in 1984.

Remarkably, even though BT was privatised some 38 years ago, more than 800,000 retail investors still own shares in the company.

Those people were the most shocked, probably, when, two years ago, BT cancelled its final dividend and announced that for the 2021-21 financial year it would not be paying any dividend at all - something it had not done in its history.

A lot has happened since then and on Thursday, as the company promised in November last year when it reinstated its interim pay-out, BT confirmed it will be paying a final dividend of 5.39p - making a total of 7.70p for the year.

It is a significant moment and not just because the pay-out, likely to come in September this year, is the first final dividend paid by BT since 2019.

The move is a sign of confidence that the vast amount BT's Openreach arm is having to invest in fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) roll-out has peaked.

Contrary to some reports, BT suspended its dividend payments not due to COVID-19, but to free up cash for fibre roll-out. The company's total capital expenditure in the year to the end of March was £5.3bn, of which £4.8bn was on its fibre infrastructure and mobile networks, while BT has said capex will fall to £4.8bn during the new financial year.

So the overall picture is one of a company that is not as stretched, financially, as it was a few years ago.

The company - which also owns the mobile operator EE - now believes its balance sheet and the framework it has put in place to allocate capital balances its ability to invest, to continue putting money into a company pension scheme that once had the UK's biggest scheme deficit, to maintain its credit rating and to reward shareholders.

That was borne out by today's numbers. Pre-tax profits of £1.96bn were up 9% on the 2020-21 financial year despite revenues falling by 2%, to £20.85bn, due to declines in its BT Global Services and BT Enterprise arms.

That reflected some rigorous cost control measures and a 6% rise in earnings in BT's consumer division and a 4% rise in Openreach partly due to price increases.

Philip Jansen, BT's chief executive, praised Openreach for continuing to "build like fury" and said it had now passed 7.2 million premises after raising its target for FTTP build this time last year. Openreach has hired more than 4,000 engineering recruits, four in five of them apprentices, during the last six months.

He said that Openreach was continuing to improve efficiency as it builds out its fibre network: "As we built the 7.2 million, we've learned more about the way in which you build. We've learned a lot about rural build and remember, one-third of this is in rural areas.

"When we look at the financials of that and also the take-up in those areas and we compare and contrast what other people are doing today and what they realistically can do over the next five to 10 years, it gives us increased confidence.

"No one is building at the speed and pace and cost profile that we are, they can't."

Other news today saw BT confirm it has finalised a deal under which it will put its BT Sport operation into a joint venture with the US media giant Warner Brothers Discovery.

The deal brings BT Sport and Eurosport UK, which is owned by Discovery, together under one roof and, eventually, one of the brands will disappear. BT also has the option, at some point, to sell the shareholding to Discovery.

The move is likely to reassure investors that have, in the past, grumbled about BT Sport being a drain on the company's resources.

Simon Lowth, the chief financial officer, said: "It's combined with a fabulous global media player, stronger portfolio [of sports rights], better synergies. So we have a 50% share in a strong, profitable BT Sport or sport venture."

While BT shares rose by more than 4%, at one point, it is worth noting there are still clouds on the horizon.

Conspicuously, neither Mr Jansen nor Mr Lowth were prepared to say today that cost inflation has peaked, which means the company is still going to have to work hard to control its costs. BT Enterprise remains a business with challenges.

And there are also rumbles of industrial action. BT announced last month a £1,500 pay rise for all frontline workers at BT, EE, Openreach and its low-price broadband provider Plusnet, which it said amounted to a pay rise of between 3-8% for most workers and representing the biggest pay rise that it has offered employees in 20 years.

But the Communication Workers Union, which wants a flat 10% pay rise for all employees, is unhappy and is balloting its members for industrial action. BT has not seen a company-wide strike in 34 years.

Mr Jansen said: "We have thought very carefully about how we handle this difficult situation and put in a pay increase for our staff ranging from 2-8%. So broadly, for senior managers, they're getting 2% and for our front-line staff, we're trying to push as much as we can to give the highest possible pay increase.

"Of course, we always want to do more, but we've got to balance out all different stakeholders. In the conversation with the unions, I think they understand the situation very, very clearly."

Also lurking in the background is the French-Israeli telecoms billionaire Patrick Drahi who, just under a year ago, popped up to reveal he had become BT's biggest shareholder and who in December last year revealed he had raised his stake from 12.1% to 18%.

The assumption is that the government would block any attempt at a full-blown takeover.

But given the unpredictability of modern UK politics - not so long ago the Labour Party was talking about nationalising chunks of BT - it would perhaps be unwise to bank on that.