The French group’s CEO hints at support for the break-up of Altice France/SFR amid ongoing rumours of that its competitors would like to divide its assets between them
Orange second earnings report showed flat revenues of €9.94 billion compared with the same period last year ago. However, earnings before taxes, other costs and changes (EBITDAaL) were almost €3.2 billion, an increase of 4.2%. As ever, Orange’s African opcos saw double-digitgal increases in revenues – this time they rose by 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year to almost €2.1 billion – boosting overall results.
Christel Heydemann, CEO of the Orange group, said, “”I would…like to highlight our performance in Africa & Middle East, with a double-digit increase in EBITDAaL for the tenth consecutive half. This remarkable performance was driven by access to our 4G and 5G networks, now used by more than half of our 167 million customers, as well as by the development of Orange Money and B2B growth.”
She noted that, “Orange delivered a solid first half, allowing us to raise our EBITDAaL growth target for 2025. Over this period, we achieved an EBITDAaL growth of 3.8%, with a notable acceleration of 0.9% in France, and increased organic cash flow by 7.7%. This performance is the result of our Lead the Future strategy and reflects our efforts to improve our operational efficiency.”
Consolidation in France?
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the press conference were closer to home with Heydemann who mentioned the recent merger of Three UK and Vodafone UK which has reduced the number of nationwide mobile network operators from four to three. She argues that such moves should be viewed in a positive rather than an anti-competitive move, and urged French and European regulators to view it in the same way.
SFR/Altice France is part of Patrick Drahi’s heavily indebted Altice Group. Drahi is keen to offload assets to reduce the debt although SFR’s debt was recently restructured and reduced by about €8.6 billion to €24 billion.
Reports have been circulating for some time that the other three French operators would be keen to divide SFR’s assets between them and Drahi has failed to find a buyer for the entire company.
European operators have been urging regulators to allow more consolidation across Europe for years as the only way they can achieve the scale to compete globally. Orange has been involved in consolidation moves in other European markets – Belgium, Romania and Spain.
