Orange reported a small drop in third-quarter results and blamed the lower figures on less co-financing received in France for its fibre networks in the period. Revenues dropped 0.7 percent to EUR 10.51 billion, and EBITDAal was off 1.0 percent to EUR 3.55 billion. The company said underlying retail sales were stronger, led by growth in converged packages, mobile and broadband.
On a comparable basis, excluding changes in currencies and scope, revenues were down 0.4 percent and EBITDAal fell 0.7 percent. Excluding the impact of cofinancing, Orange reported revenues up 1.3 percent and EBITDal up 4.5 percent, thanks to a good commercial performance and lower costs.
The Africa and the Middle East segment was again the main growth driver, with underlying revenues up 12.0 percent, while the international carrier and shared services unit grew by 10.8 percent. Europe excluding Spain grew by 2.0 percent, as retail services growth accelerated to 5.7 percent. France was still down 4.1 percent, but "virtually stable" excluding the impact of cofinancing, and Spain's comparable sales fell another 4.4 percent.
Orange maintained its outlook for "stable but negative" EBITDAal in the full year. The eCapex is expected to reach EUR 7.6-7.7 billion in the full year, after nearly EUR 5.6 billion in the first nine months, and organic cash flow from the telecom business should reach over EUR 2.2 billion.
The first installment of the annual dividend, EUR 0.30 per share, will be paid in December, followed by another 40 cents next year.
Orange ended the quarter with 11.3 million convergent customers taking both fixed and mobile services, up 3.1 percent year-on-year. The mobile base rose by 4.7 percent over the same period to 221.8 million lines at the end of September, including 80.1 million postpaid subscribers, up 5.1 percent.
The number of fixed access lines was down 1.0 percent to 44.7 million. That includes 11.3 million on very high-speed broadband, an increase of 25.3 percent year-on-year and nearly 528,000 net additions during the quarter.
Orange had 53.8 million households with access to FTTH worldwide, up 20.8 percent year-on-year. That includes 27.4 million homes passed in France, up 31.4 percent from a year ago.
