Orange posted small declines in revenue and earnings in the first quarter of this year, but customer numbers grew and the operator confirmed its full-year targets.
The French telco generated €9.67 billion in revenues for the three months to the end of March, down 0.9% on a comparable basis, or a decline of 0.3% excluding the impact of regulatory measures.
Restated EBITDA came in at €2.92 billion, down by 1.9% on the year-ago quarter. Capex was up by 3% to €1.19 billion.
"We’ve signed up over 10 million 4G customers Europe-wide and fibre is proving to be a genuine driver of customer acquisition in both France and Spain," Orange CEO Stephane Richard said in a statement.
"Globally, we now have 247 million customers, of which over 100 million are in Africa and the Middle East," he added. "These achievements have enabled us to effectively stabilise our revenues, excluding the impact of regulation."
Orange’s operations in Africa and the Middle East contributed €1.12 billion to revenues during the quarter, an increase of 6.8%. The telco’s domestic business remains its strongest revenue driver, bringing in €4.72 billion, down 1.8%.
"At the same time our constant close attention to our cost base has allowed us to limit restated EBITDA margin erosion in terms of absolute value and so we are able to confirm our 2015 objectives," Richard added.
The telco reiterated that it expects to record €11.9 billion-€12.1 billion in restated EBITDA for the full year, with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of around 2x over the medium term.
"Within this framework, the group is pursuing a policy of selective acquisitions by concentrating on markets in which it is already present," the company said.
