FT-Orange Q1 results in line with guidance

France Telecom-Orange has reported that first-quarter revenues dropped by 1.4 per cent to €11.23 billion (US$16.65 billion) as regulatory changes hit the company. The first quarter results are in line with the group’s guidance for 2011.

Group customers totalled 215.9 million at March 31, 2011, a seven per cent year-on-year increase on a comparable basis, led by 25 per cent mobile growth in Africa and the Middle East.

Restated EBITDA was down slightly at €3.734 billion. The EBITDA margin was 33.3 per cent, down 1.3 percentage points versus the first quarter of 2010, notably due to the unfavourable impact of sales tax changes in France.

The company does not announce a net profit figure for the quarterly results.

CAPEX was equal to 9.6 per cent of revenues, representing €1.081 billion in investments, in line with the target CAPEX rate of about 13 per cent for the year.

"In France, the group successfully overcame increased market turbulence and regulatory changes – most notably following the increase in VAT – with significant gains in the ADSL market thanks to the success of the Open quadruple play offer,” commented Stéphane Richard, chairman and CEO of France Telecom-Orange. “The group was also able to address difficult conditions in Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire and Tunisia. The group performed very well in Spain, with revenues growing four per cent, as well as in the continually improving enterprise market."