Orange showed a return to comparable sales growth in the first quarter, with revenues up 0.5 percent to EUR 10.32 billion. The company attributed the performance to a recovery in equipment sales (+10.8%) as well as higher revenues from fixed broadband (+5.3%) and IT and integration services (5.1%).
Reported sales including current effects were still down 0.8 percent. EBITDAal fell 1.4 percent, or 0.3 percent on a comparable basis, to EUR 2.57 billion, in line with the company's outlook for a slightly lower result over the full year. Orange blamed the decline on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which was felt in the full quarter compared to only a month in Q1 2020. This contributed to a drop of 31 percent in roaming revenues.
On a regional basis, Africa & Middle East showed the strongest growth, with comparable sales up 7.1 percent. Revenues in France, where some stores remain closed, fell 0.2 percent, and Spain continued to struggle, with sales down 7.4 percent. The rest of Europe grew by 2.2 percent, and the Enterprise segment returned to modest growth of 0.4 percent.
Capital expenditure rose 12.4 percent to EUR 1.76 billion, in line with the full-year budget of EUR 7.6-7.7 billion. Orange said it ended the period with 5G available in five markets and 49.3 million homes passed with fibre, up 22 percent year-on-year.
The mobile customer base was up 1.2 percent year-on-year to 216.6 million at the end of March, including 78.0 million on contracts (+0.9%). Fixed lines were down by 0.3 percent to 45.0 million. Convergent customers, taking both fixed and mobile services, reached 11.1 million, up 2.8 percent from a year ago.
