Elsewhere progress is less dramatic but appears to be going to plan, if not fast enough for the stock market
Orange Group CEO Christel Heydemann was pleased with the first quarter’s earnings, reported yesterday. She highlighted the completion the 50:50 merger of Orange España and MásMóvil to form Spain’s biggest operator by subscriber numbers and the strong growth in its Middle East and African opcos (MEA).
Orange’s revenues in the MEA region had double-digit growth in revenues for the fourth consecutive reporting period, up by 11.1% year on year to to €1.85 billion. More specifically,
mobile data revenues rose in the region by close to 16%, fixed broadband by 20.6%, mobile money by 23.5% and B2B by more than 14%.
Orange achieved less dramatic results at home in France where revenues rose by 0.8% to €4.3 billion, but was still the star turn in Europe, apart from Spain, as the total revenues from the other European market fell by 2% to €1.7 billion.
The company said this was due to a deliberate reduction in low-margin sales and the fall was somewhat offset by ongoing growth in retail.
Means business
Orange Business reported a 0.3% decrease in revenues to €1.9 billion, in large part due to a fall in income from legacy fixed voice services, However, the good news is the accelerated growth in IT and integration services revenues, which rose 7.5% to €937 million.
Orange Cyberdefense is making a hefty contribution to Orange Business, as laid out in the Lead the Future strategic plan, with accelerating growth. “Orange Business continues to execute its transformation plan with several important milestones achieved this quarter, notably the implementation of the cost-reduction plan,” stated Heydemann.
Overall, Orange’s group revenues were up 2.1% year on year to €9.9 billion, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and adjusted loss (EBITDAaL) up 2.3% to €2.4 billion.
Investors were not as encouraged by the results as Heydemann: the group’s share price fell nearly 4% (to €10.60) on the Paris stock exchange (pictured) giving Orange a market cap of €28.2 billion.