Orange 1Q Revenue Increased

   By Mauro Orru 
 

Orange said Thursday that revenue for the first quarter of 2020 increased year-on-year amid solid growth in Africa and the Middle East, as well as improvements in the enterprise, France and Europe segments.

The French telecommunications company said first-quarter revenue rose 1% to 10.39 billion euros ($11.28 billion) from EUR10.29 billion for the first quarter of 2019.

Revenue for France rose 0.5% to EUR4.43 billion from EUR4.41 billion, it said.

Orange said the coronavirus pandemic brought about a decline in equipment sales due to the closure of three quarters of its stores in Europe from mid-March, coupled with a decline in roaming revenues.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization after leasing, or Ebitdaal, increased to EUR2.60 billion from EUR2.59 billion. The company began using Ebitdaal as a financial indicator in January 2019 to account for the adoption of the IFRS 16 accounting standard.

The company said it doesn't expect a significant deviation from its targets for 2020, adding however that it would consider an update of 2020 guidance when publishing results for the second quarter.

"We recorded a solid performance in our retail operations, although this was mitigated in the second half of March by the closure of the vast majority of our stores in Europe," said Chief Executive Stephane Richard.

Write to Mauro Orru at [e-mail]; @MauroOrru94

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 30, 2020 02:05 ET (06:05 GMT)

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