Orange EBITDA, Revenues Rise; Sees FY15 Earnings At High End Of View; Stock Up

(RTTNews) - Shares of Orange SA (ORAN) were gaining around 4 percent in the morning trade in Paris after the French telecom major reported Thursday higher EBITDA, a key earnings metric, and increased revenues in its third quarter. Looking ahead, the company said it now aims to achieve the high end of the range for the objectives initially set for 2015.

For the third quarter, restated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA was 3.56 billion euros, compared with last year's 3.52 billion euros on a compared basis, a growth of 1.1 percent. EBITDA grew 5.4 percent from 3.38 billion euros on a historical basis. Restated EBITDA margin was 34.6 percent, up 0.2 percentage points from the prior year.

Revenues were 10.28 billion euros, 0.5 percent higher than last year's comparable revenues of 10.23 billion euros. Revenues increased 4.9 percent on a historical basis. Excluding the impact of regulatory measures, Group revenues rose 0.6 percent in the third quarter.

In the quarter, revenues in France edged down 0.6 percent, while it grew 9.3 percent in Europe on a historical basis, with strong 24.5 percent growth mainly in Spain, and 21.9 percent in Africa & Middle East. Enterprise revenues also increased 3.4 percent.

Revenues increased in the quarter after falling 0.2 percent in the second quarter and 0.9 percent in the first quarter, the company noted. The trend of continued improvement reflects the favorable change in mobile services across all regions.

With the full consolidation of Jazztel in Spain and of Méditel in Morocco, the Orange Group had a total of 263.3 million customers as of September 30, a year-on-year increase of 4.6 percent on a comparable basis.

Orange Group CEO Stéphane Richard stated, "Our return to growth in revenue and restated EBITDA validates our strategy of differentiation through quality and investment and confirms the positive momentum generated over almost two years …. This commercial momentum is supported by high levels of investment in very high-speed fixed and mobile broadband, in line with our Essentiels2020 strategic plan."

Orange now expects restated EBITDA of at least 12.3 billion euros for the full year 2015. This reflects the consolidation of Jazztel and Méditel from July 1 and the disposal of Orange Armenia on September 3.

The company had previously expected to achieve restated EBITDA of between 11.9 and 12.1 billion euros for the year.

Further, the company confirmed the payment of a dividend of 0.60 euros per share for 2015. An interim dividend for 2015 of 0.20 euros per share will be paid on December 9.

In Paris, Orange shares were trading at 14.90 euros, up 3.51 percent.