Orange reported Q1 2019 revenue of EUR 10,185 (-0.1% year on year) on a comparable basis. Growth in most segments offset the slight downturn in revenues in France (-1.8% and -0.7% excluding the effect of the digital reading offers) in what continues to be a fierce promotional environment. Spain’s value positioning led to 0.4% growth, despite greater competition. Europe was up 1.4%, underpinned by convergence and IT services, whilst steady growth of 5.3% continued in Africa & Middle East due to a very solid retail services performance. Enterprise had a second consecutive quarter of growth, rising 0.6%.
EBITDAaL grew 0.7% year on year, despite the impact of digital reading offers. Restated for this impact, growth in EBITDAaL would be 2.8%. The EBITDAaL margin from telecoms activities improved by 0.4 points in the 1st quarter. eCapex grew 8.4% to reach €1.6 billion, linked to the acceleration in the 1st quarter of the FTTH rollout in France and continued investment in 4G networks. In line with the objectives, eCapex for 2019 will be slightly lower compared to 2018, excluding the impact of the new network sharing agreement in Spain.
Key metrics
- Revenues from Convergence – marketed in all European countries – were €1.7 billion in the 1st quarter, up 4.6%. This improvement enabled Orange to consolidate its position as the leading convergent operator in Europe.
- Revenues from mobile-only services were €2.6 billion in the 1st quarter, up 1.1%.
- Revenues from fixed-only services fell 3.1% in the 1st quarter (€2.4 billion), as a result of the migration to convergent services and the slowdown in fixed narrowband services.
- Revenue from IT and integration services posted accelerated growth of 6.6% in the 1st quarter (€616 million), versus the 0.8% increase in the 1st quarter of 2018. This growth was driven by the Enterprise market as well as by Poland.
- Wholesale revenues fell 1.4% in the 1st quarter (€1.9 billion). This was primarily due to the decrease in international voice traffic and visitor roaming.
- Revenues from equipment sales were down 8.4% (€722 million), due to lower volumes of terminal sales.
- There were 10.506 million convergent customers across the Group at 31 March 2019, stable year on year on a comparable basis, underpinned by very strong growth in Europe.
- There were 203.781 million mobile customers at 31 March 2019, with a net addition of 163,000 in the 1st quarter.
- There were 20.275 million fixed broadband customers at 31 March 2019, with a net addition of 130,000 in the 1st quarter.
