Bei Swissquote gefunden: April 26 (Reuters) - Orange confirmed itsguidance on Wednesday after it posted first-quarter coreoperating earnings in line with expectations, driven by growth
in Africa and the Middle East and by price hikes in Europe.
France's biggest telecoms operator said core earnings (EBITDAaL) rose 0.5% on a comparable basis to 2.59 billion euros
($2.84 billion), matching the 2.59 billion euros expected by analysts in a company-compiled poll.
Orange, which operates in 26 countries, has been raising its
prices across Europe to offset inflation and made increases recently in France and Spain.
Revenues rose 1.3% to 10.62 billion euros, in line with
expectations of 10.6 billion euros.
Revenues in its biggest home market slipped 1.8% due toa decline in its wholesale segment, but Orange said it expected
the top line to benefit from recent price hikes.
The increases led to a "limited increase in the mobile churnrate", Orange said, adding that churn reached 12.0%, up 0.8
point compared with the first quarter of last year.
Jean-Michel Thibaud, acting group CFO, said he was not
worried about the churn. "We have a focus on value this year, the commercial performance is perfectly in line with our expectations in terms
of volume," he told Reuters.
As part of a turnaround plan for its enterprise business, Orange said it has started talks with trade unions on a
collective contract termination agreement to support about 670 voluntary departures in its legacy activities in France.
The business, which offers voice, data and IT consulting
services, has been under pressure as companies abandoned regular fixed phone subscriptions to make calls via Internet-supported communication platforms.
Orange confirmed its guidance for organic cash flow from
telecom activities of at least 3.5 billion euros and slight growth in EBITDAaL this year.
