Orange posts US$2.6 billion profit for 2013

Orange talked up its success in the European 4G market, as it reported its full-year financials for 2013.

It said that it had reached its objective of signing one million 4G customers in France and that, with more than 4,200 sites, its 4G network covers 50 per cent of the population.

In Spain, Orange had 530,000 4G customers, and more than 1,600 sites deployed covering 30 per cent of the population. In Poland, 4G was launched in Warsaw, while in the UK EE had more than two million 4G customers as of early January 2014.

The company reported a net income attributable to shareholders of €1.87 billion (US$2.6 billion), more than doubled from €820 million in the prior year, on revenue of €40.98 billion, down 5.8 per cent from €43.52 billion.

It said it had demonstrated “its outstanding ability to work collectively to adapt and control costs”, with savings of €929 million offsetting nearly half of its decline in revenue.

And its bottom line also benefitted from “a significantly lower level of goodwill impairment in 2013 compared to 2012”.

It noted the impact of regulatory measures, although excluding these the company still saw a sales decline.

Orange ended the year with 178.5 million mobile customers, an increase of 3.5 per cent year-on-year.

For its Rest of World segment, revenue increased by 1.3 per cent due to growth of 4.7 per cent in Africa and the Middle East, while Europe, “marked by the downturn in Belgium and Slovakia”, fell by 2.8 per cent.