Orange on Tuesday reported second quarter revenue and adjusted EBITDA ahead of estimates as its European recovery continued.
The French incumbent generated revenue of €9.9 billion and adjusted EBITDA of €3.3 billion in the three months to 30 June, down 0.2% and 0.4% respectively on last year. Excluding regulation, revenue would have grown by 0.4% and EBITDA by 0.9%.
Analysts polled by Bloomberg expected Orange’s revenue and adjusted EBITDA to come in at €9.8 billion and €3.1 billion respectively.
Orange’s second quarter performance also represents an improvement on Q1, when revenue fell by 0.9% and EBITDA fell by 1.9%.
"We are particularly pleased with these results which mark a return to revenue growth in the second quarter, excluding regulation, for the first time since 2011," said Orange CEO Stéphane Richard, in a statement.
Orange confirmed its full-year guidance of adjusted EBITDA of €11.9 billion-€12.1 billion.
Its second quarter results were driven by continued growth at Orange’s emerging market operations in the Middle East and Africa, and a slowing decline in Europe.
Revenue in Europe excluding France fell 1.7% on-year in Q2, compared to a fall of 3.5% on-year in Q1. In France, second quarter revenue fell 0.8%, after declining 1.8% in the first quarter.
Orange attributed the improving performance to strong uptake of high-speed fixed and mobile data services.
In France, the telco ended June with 27.5 million mobile customers, compared to 26.9 million a year ago. Its postpaid subscriber base rose 7.6% to 22.8 million. In the rest of Europe, Orange’s mobile customer base grew 1.1% to 48.2 million.
On the fixed side, Orange’s European customer base, including France, grew to 14.9 million from 14.5 million. Of that total, 966,000 subscribe to fibre-based broadband.
Meanwhile, in Africa and the Middle East, revenue grew 4.5% to €1.2 billion, as mobile customers surged 12.4% to 102 million.
"We delivered a very good commercial performance especially in France, Belgium, Romania and throughout the Africa and Middle East region. This dynamic commercial activity is underpinned by significant investment in very high-speed fixed and mobile broadband and the Orange team’s daily commitment to our customers," said Richard, who also drew attention to some recent acquisitions.
Indeed, in May, the European Commission cleared Orange’s €3.4 billion acquisition of Spanish cableco Jazztel. So far in July, the company has also entered talks to acquire four of Bharti Airtel’s African businesses, and late last week it agreed to increase its stake in Morocco’s Meditel.
