Press Release: Orange - First quarter in line with full-year 2023 targets

Press release
Paris, 26 April 2023

Financial information at 31 March 2023

First quarter in line with full-year 2023 targets

The Group confirms its financial guidance as presented at the Capital Market Day

Orange group revenues grew 1.3% compared with the first quarter of 2022¹ (+135 million euros) thanks to growth in retail services (+2.8% or 219 million euros), fueled in particular by repricing in Europe and by the growth driver Africa and Middle East.

• Africa & Middle East was the main contributor to this growth with a sharp 9.1% increase in revenues (+141 million euros), followed by Europe with 3.8% growth (+102 million euros), driven by Poland (+7.1%) and Spain, which has confirmed its return to growth (+2.8%) for the third consecutive quarter.
• Revenues in France were 1.8% lower (-78 million euros) as a result of the downward trend in wholesale in line with our expectations (-7.8%). This was partially offset by the increase in retail services excluding STN² (at +2.1%, its low point for the year). The recent repricing that will be fully effective as of the second quarter will progressively contribute to the growth in retail services.
• The slight 0.7% decrease in Enterprise revenues (-14 million euros) continued to be driven by the sharp decline in fixed voice revenues (-11.6%), partially offset by growth in IT & Integration services revenues (+5.3%). The recovery plan for this segment is ongoing.
• In terms of commercial performance, the Group maintained its leadership position in convergence, with 11.6 million convergent customers across Europe (+0.6%), and its commercial momentum on mobile contracts and very high-speed fixed broadband. Mobile services had 243.4 million accesses (+5.0%), including 95.8 million contracts (+8.5%). Fixed services totaled 45.0 million accesses (down 2.7%), including 14.7 million very high-speed broadband accesses, that continued to grow strongly (+14.7%). Fixed narrowband accesses continued to decline (-14.2%).

At 31 March 2023, Group EBITDAaL stood at 2,590 million euros, up 0.5%, in line with the target of slight growth in 2023. The EBITDAaL margin for telecom activities, traditionally lower in the first quarter, was 24.7% owing to a more severe seasonality effect this year related to the recognition of operating taxes. The next few quarters will further benefit from the price increases introduced in early 2023. EBITDAaL from telecom activities was 2,625 million euros (+0.9%).

eCAPEX totaled 1,493 million euros in the first quarter of 2023, a decrease of 4.9% year on year and in line with the target of a significant reduction in 2023. The number of households connectable to FTTH reached 66.6 million (+13.8%) and the FTTH customer base increased to 14.2 million (+15.1%).

The Group confirms its financial targets, in particular those for 2023³, as presented at the Capital Market Day on 16 February:

• Slight growth in EBITDAaL
• Significant reduction in eCAPEX
• Organic cash flow from telecom activities of at least 3.5 billion euros
• Net debt/EBITDAaL ratio for telecom activities unchanged at around 2x in the medium term
• Proposed increase in the dividend for the 2023 financial year to 0.72 euros including an interim dividend of 0.30 euros in December 2023
  
  

Commenting on the publication of these results, Christel Heydemann, Chief Executive Officer of the Orange group, said:

"The continued increase in revenues and EBITDAaL, as well as the decrease in eCapex compared to Q1 2022, are in line with our objectives for 2023 and reinforce our ambition for the years to come.

We have started to execute our "Lead the Future" strategic plan with an even more value-oriented commercial strategy thanks to the quality of our networks and services which, combined with our cost controls, allow us to partially offset inflation. Our performance is once again driven by the remarkable growth in Africa and the Middle East and our strong value-driven growth in Europe. This quarter our retail services returned to growth in Spain, a country that has now seen growth for three consecutive quarters, and we’ve had double-digit revenue growth in our Orange Money business in Africa. Both demonstrate the strength of the Group and our ability to respond to increased competitive pressure. In France, retail services continue to grow and this should further accelerate in the second half of the year due to the recent price increases. Finally, in the Enterprise segment, we are executing our transformation plan.

I would like to warmly thank all the Orange teams who strive every day to serve our customers well and are committed to the deployment of our "Lead the Future" strategic plan. Together, we will deliver our ambitions in terms of growth and long-term value creation.”

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The Board of Directors of Orange SA met on 25 April 2023 to review the consolidated financial results at 31 March 2023.

More detailed information on the Group’s financial results and performance indicators is available on the Orange website www.orange.com/en/consolidated-results.

Review by operating segment

France

Retail services, which continued to grow this quarter, will benefit during the rest of the year from the latest price increases.

France’s revenues were 1.8% lower at 4,307 million euros in the first quarter of 2023 compared with the first quarter of 2022. This translated to the decline in wholesale of 7.8% (-93 million euro), in line with our medium-term expectations and partially offset by an increase in retail services.

Retail services revenues were up 0.6% (+17 million euros) and even rose 2.1% excluding STN. This growth is expected to accelerate during the rest of the year as a result of the recent price increases (both for existing customers and new offers). This will continue to drive convergent ARPO, which grew 2.2% in the first quarter to more than 72 euros.

All our customers affected by base price increases have now been informed. As expected, this led to a limited increase in the mobile churn rate (which reached 12.0% on mobile, +0.8pt compared to Q1 2022) that weighed on net additions in the first quarter of this year with +3,000⁴ for mobile and -21,000 for fixed-line, but still included very strong volumes for fiber with +287,000 net sales. The price increases, which will only be fully effective in the second quarter, will contribute progressively to revenues during the year.

Lastly, revenues from equipment sales rose 7.7% (+22 million euros).

Europe

Europe confirms its strong momentum in recent quarters with accelerated growth.

Europe revenues grew 3.8% in the first quarter (+102 million euros) driven by retail services, which rose 3.6% (+64 million euros) thanks to the solid performance by Convergence and Mobile revenues which benefitted from the rate increases introduced in all regions in 2022.

Equipment sales also rose sharply by 17.4% year on year (+63 million euros) while the 7.4% decline in wholesale services (-32 million euros) was due to the regulatory reduction in call termination rates which had little impact on margins.

In addition to the good performance of Spain (+2.8%), growth in Other European countries (+4.6%) was driven by Poland (+7.1%).

Indeed Spain confirmed its revenue growth, up 2.8% (+32 million euros) in the first quarter of 2023, with retail services and equipment sales both returning to growth, at +1.2% (+9 million euros) and +18% (+27 million euros), respectively.

In a still highly competitive market, Orange Spain continued to drive value through higher value-added offers, combined with a disciplined marketing policy and growth in B2B activities. This was reflected again this quarter in the 3.5% improvement in its convergent ARPO (after +2.0% in the fourth quarter of 2022), while the level of churn continued to fall.

We are therefore confident in our ability to return to EBITDAaL growth this year.

Africa & Middle East

Africa & Middle East again delivered an exceptional performance in the first quarter of 2023.

Africa & Middle East recorded a strong 9.1% rise in revenues (+141 million euros), with growth in all countries in the region, and double-digit growth in nearly half of them. The region thus demonstrated its agility and resilience amid security tensions and currency devaluations in some countries.

This performance was based on the continued rapid development of retail services (+9.4%) due to double-digit growth in the four growth engines, namely mobile data (+19.1%), fixed broadband (+17.9%), Orange Money (+20.7%) and B2B (+15.1%), with positive volume and value effects.

Orange Money’s return to double-digit growth shows the effectiveness of our response plan in the face of increasing competition.

The mobile customer base reached 143.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 5.1%, with a 3.2% increase in average mobile ARPO.

Enterprise

Recovery plan ongoing.

Enterprise revenues fell slightly by 0.7% (-14 million euros) to 1,951 million euros in the first quarter of 2023.

The decrease in the legacy fixed activities (-58 million euros), voice in particular, was partially offset by growth in IT & Integration services (+44 million euros).

The Digital & Data and Orange Cyberdefense activities produced double-digit growth of 12.7% and 10.5% respectively in the first quarter of 2023.

As part of the ongoing recovery plan aimed at implementing a new organization and substantially reducing costs, Orange Business entered into discussions with the trade unions on a collective contract termination agreement to support approximately 670 voluntary departures in its legacy activities in France.

At the same time, to accelerate its digital transformation, Orange Business has initiated a training and retraining program of 5,000 employees for roles in key digital disciplines (virtualization, cloud, data, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity), while also launching an ambitious program to recruit 800 experts in cybersecurity and as many again in the digital services fields of Cloud and Digital & Data.

Totem

Revenues for the Totem TowerCo⁵ reached 174 million euros in the first quarter, an 8.1% increase driven by the 7.0% rise in external hosting revenues.

International Carriers & Shared Services

Wholesale services revenues were down 13.2% (-35 million euros), due primarily to the downward trend in low-margin voice revenues. Mobile (mainly roaming-related services) and data services were on the rise.

The 6.0% increase in other revenues (+7 million euros) was due to a spike in activity at Orange Marine during the quarter.

Mobile Financial Services

Mobile Financial Services had 3.1 million customers at 31 March 2023, including 2.0 million in Europe (Orange Bank) and 1.1 million in Africa (Orange Bank Africa).

In the first quarter, new accounts opened at Orange Bank (Europe) rose 14% and loans disbursed (excluding mortgages) increased 34%.

Calendar of upcoming events

Contacts

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements about Orange’s financial situation, results of operations and strategy. Although we believe these statements are based on reasonable assumptions, they are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including matters not yet known to us or not currently considered material by us, and there can be no assurance that anticipated events will occur or that the objectives set out will actually be achieved. More detailed information on the potential risks that could affect our financial results is included in the Universal Registration Document filed on 29 March 2023 with the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) and in the annual report (Form 20-F) filed on 30 March 2023 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Other than as required by law, Orange does not undertake any obligation to update them in light of new information or future developments.

Appendix 1: financial key indicators

Quarterly data

(1)  EBITDAaL presentation adjustments are described in Appendix 2.

Appendix 2: adjusted data to income statement items

Quarterly data

Appendix 3: economic CAPEX to investments in property, plant and intangible investment

Appendix 4: key performance indicators

2022 data is presented on a comparable basis.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) by country are presented in the "Orange Investors Data Book Q1 2023,” available on www.orange.com, under Finance/Results: www.orange.com/en/latest-consolidated-results

Appendix 5: glossary

Key figures

Data on a comparable basis: data based on comparable accounting principles, scope of consolidation and exchange rates are presented for previous periods. The transition from data on an historical basis to data on a comparable basis consists of keeping the results for the period ended and then restating the results for the corresponding period of the preceding year for the purpose of presenting, over comparable periods, financial data with comparable accounting principles, scope of consolidation and exchange rate. The method used is to apply to the data of the corresponding period of the preceding year, the accounting principles and scope of consolidation for the period just ended as well as the average exchange rate used for the income statement for the period ended. Changes in data on a comparable basis reflect organic business changes. Data on a comparable basis is not a financial aggregate as defined by IFRS and may not be comparable to similarly named indicators used by other companies.

EBITDAaL or "EBITDA after Leases”: operating income (i) before depreciation and amortization of fixed assets, effects resulting from business combinations, reclassification of cumulative translation adjustment from liquidated entities, impairment of goodwill and fixed assets, share of profits (losses) of associates and joint ventures, (ii) after interest on debts related to financed assets and on lease liabilities, and (iii) adjusted for significant litigation, specific labor expenses, fixed assets, investments and businesses portfolio review, restructuring programs costs, acquisition and integration costs and, where appropriate, other specific elements. EBITDAaL is not a financial aggregate as defined by IFRS standards and may not be directly comparable to similarly named indicators in other companies.

eCAPEX or "economic CAPEX”: (i) acquisitions of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, excluding telecommunications licenses and financed assets, (ii) less the price of disposal of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets. eCAPEX is not a financial performance indicator as defined by IFRS standards and may not be directly comparable to indicators referenced by similarly named indicators in other companies.

Organic Cash Flow (telecoms activities): for the perimeter of the telecoms activities, net cash provided by operating activities, minus (i) lease liabilities repayments and debts related to financed assets repayments, and (ii) purchases and sales of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, net of the change in the fixed assets payables, (iii) excluding telecommunication licenses paid and significant litigations paid or received. Organic Cash Flow (telecoms activities) is not a financial aggregate defined by IFRS and may not be comparable to similarly named indicators used by other companies.

Retail services (B2C + B2B): aggregation of revenues from (i) Convergent services, (ii) Mobile-only services, (iii) Fixed-only services and (iv) IT & integration services (see definitions). Retail Services (B2C+B2B) revenues include all revenues of a given scope excluding revenues from wholesale services, equipment sales and other revenues (see definitions).

Performance indicators

Fixed retail accesses: number of fixed broadband accesses (xDSL (ADSL and VDSL), FTTx, cable, Fixed-4G (fLTE) and other broadband accesses (satellite, Wimax and others)) and fixed narrowband accesses (mainly PSTN) and payphones.

Fixed wholesale accesses: number of fixed broadband and narrowband wholesale accesses operated by Orange.

Convergence

Convergent services: customer base and revenues from B2C Convergent retail offers, excluding equipment sales (see definition) defined as an offer combining at least a broadband access (xDSL, FTTx, cable or Fixed-4G (fLTE) with cell-lock) and a mobile voice contract (excluding MVNOs).

Convergent ARPO: average quarterly revenues per convergent offer (ARPO) calculated by dividing revenues from retail Convergent services offers invoiced to B2C customers generated over the past three months (excluding IFRS 15 adjustments) by the weighted average number of retail Convergent offers over the same period. ARPO is expressed by monthly revenues per convergent offer.

Mobile-only services

Mobile-only services: revenues from mobile offers (mainly outgoing calls: voice, SMS and data) invoiced to retail customers, excluding convergent services and equipment sales (see definitions). The customer base includes customers with a contract excluding retail convergence, machine-to-machine contracts and prepaid cards.

Mobile-only ARPO: average quarterly revenues from Mobile-only (ARPO) calculated by dividing revenues from Mobile-only retail services (excluding machine-to-machine and IFRS 15 adjustments) generated over the past three months by the weighted average of Mobile-only customers (excluding machine-to-machine) over the same period. The ARPO is expressed as monthly revenues per Mobile-only customer.

Fixed-only services

Fixed-only services: revenues from fixed retail offers, excluding B2C convergent offers and equipment sales (see definitions). It includes (i) fixed narrowband services (conventional fixed telephony), (ii) fixed broadband services, and (iii) business solutions and networks (with the exception of France, for which essential business solutions and networks are supported by Enterprise). For the Enterprise segment, Fixed-only service revenues include sales of network equipment related to the operation of voice and data services. The customer base consists of fixed narrowband and fixed broadband customers, excluding retail convergence customers.

Fixed-only Broadband ARPO: average quarterly revenues from Fixed-only Broadband (ARPO) calculated by dividing the revenue from Fixed-only Broadband retail services (excluding IFRS 15 adjustments) generated over the past three months by the weighted average of Fixed-only Broadband customers over the same period. ARPO is expressed as monthly revenues per Fixed-only Broadband customer.

IT & integration services

IT & Integration services: revenues from unified communication and collaboration services (Local Area Network and telephony, advising, integration and project management), hosting and infrastructure services (including Cloud Computing), applications services (customer relations management and other applications services), security services, video conferencing offers, machine-to-machine services (excluded connectivity) as well as sales of equipment related to the above products and services.

Wholesale

Wholesale: revenues from other carriers consists of (i) mobile services to other carriers including incoming traffic, visitor roaming, network sharing, national roaming and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), and (ii) fixed services to other carriers including national networking, services to international carriers, high-speed and very high-speed broadband access (fibre access, unbundling of telephone lines and xDSL access sales) and the sale of telephone lines on the wholesale market.

Equipment sales

Equipment sales: revenues from all mobile and fixed equipment sales, excluding (i) equipment sales associated with the supply of IT & Integration services, (ii) sales of network equipment related to the operation of voice and data services in the Enterprise operating segment, and (iii) equipment sales to dealers and brokers.

Other revenues

Other revenues: revenues including (i) equipment sales to brokers and dealers, (ii) portal, (iii) on-line advertising revenues, (iv) corporate transversal business line activities, and (v) other miscellaneous revenues.

1 Unless otherwise stated, percentage changes are on a year-on-year basis, calculated against the first quarter of 2022 and on a comparable basis.
2 Revenue from the Switched Telephone Network
3 These objectives are on a comparable basis and do not take into account mergers and acquisitions not yet finalized.
4 Excluding M2M (machine-to-machine exchange of information)

5 European company within the Orange group that owns and manages the passive mobile infrastructure portfolio of telecommunication towers, initially in France and Spain. It has been presented as a separate business segment since January 1, 2022.

Attachment

• PR Orange Financial Results Q1 Final EN 260423