Orange Announces Excellent Sales Momentum Across The Group, Underpinning The Stabilization Of EBITDAaL

By Francois Giudice, Correspondent France

Orange group revenues were up 0.5 per cent  in Q1 2021 largely due to the recovery of equipment sales and an excellent performance in fixed broadband and IT & Integration services.

Growth was primarily driven by Africa & Middle East, which posted its best first quarterly performance in 10 years (up 7.1%), and by Other European countries (2) (up 2.2%). The Enterprise segment returned to modest growth (+0.4%), while France was resilient (-0.2%) and Spain remained markedly negative (-7.4%).

Group EBITDAaL edged down very slightly (-0.3%) in a quarter impacted by the health crisis throughout, which was not the case in Q1 2020.

Q1 eCAPEX was in line with the Group’s targets for 2021. This increased by 12.4 per cent versus Q1 2020, mainly due to Network investments and fewer asset disposals.

Orange again delivered a very robust commercial performance, setting a new record for first-quarter FttH net adds.

IT & Integration services posted strong growth, including 16 per cent year-on-year revenue growth at Orange Cyberdefense.

5G packages are now available in five countries. In France, Orange now covers 239 municipalities with 5G.

Commenting on the publication of these results, Stéphane Richard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Orange group, said: “In spite of the effects of the health crisis which remained significant in the first quarter, the Group demonstrated its resilience, maintaining revenue growth (+0.5%) and stabilizing EBITDAal (-0.3%). Revenues in particular were sustained by the remarkable performance in Africa and the Middle East where Orange posted growth of more than 7 per cent and passed the threshold of 130 million mobile customers. Growth reached 2.2 per cent in the Europe segment excluding the Spanish market where recovery remains a priority. The Enterprise segment continues to improve following the difficulties faced in the second half of 2020 resulting from the first lockdown period. IT and integration services also advanced strongly, primarily in Cloud Computing, and Digital and Data, which saw annual revenue increases of 5 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.

In France our commercial performance was very solid and we set a new record for net FttH sales in a first quarter, which allowed us to reach almost 5 million fiber customers. In addition, Orange Bank now has 1.5 million customers in Europe and over 500,000 customers in Africa.

Our 5G services are already available in five countries with France now offering coverage in 239 municipalities. Strong demand for 5G-compatible smartphones augers well for the adoption of this new technology by our customers.

Thanks to the signing of a Fiberco project partnership in Poland, we are continuing to roll-out our infrastructure strategy, just as we have done with Orange Concessions and Totem, our European TowerCo. All the objectives that we announced in this regard a year ago will be delivered as planned and under excellent financial conditions.

Finally, I’m proud to be able to underline that Orange has continued to show it can rise to its responsibilities in the face of the health crisis thanks to the power of its networks and the commitment of its employees, to whom I extend my warmest thanks.”