first quarter 2010: revenues and EBITDA are in line with the Group’s outlook for the year as a whole
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Paris, April 29, 2010 
France Telecom confirms its financial objectives for 2010
revenues of 10.96 billion euros, down 2.7% in relation to the first quarter of 2009 on a comparable basis. Excluding the impact of regulatory measures, the decrease was limited to 0.3%
- growth of 7.3% in Africa and the Middle East; strong growth continued for new operations in Africa, up 22.1% in first quarter 2010
- positive trends in other regions as well: revenues (excluding regulatory measures)rose 0.3% in France and 2.0% in Spain. Poland improved, limiting the decline to just 4.8%. Growth from other European countries was 1.2%
- in the Enterprise segment, revenues fell 6.1% (excluding equipment sales), marked by the migration towards Internet usage and the persistent slowdown in the services business
EBITDA was 3.76 billion euros, a margin of 34.3%, down 1 point on a comparable basis. Excluding the impact of regulation and new taxes, the EBITDA margin was down by only 0.7 points compared with the first quarter of 2009
CAPEX of 874 million euros: the CAPEX rate to revenues was 8.0%, compared with 9.9% in the first quarter of 2009 on a comparable basis
- the investment trend in the first quarter follows the very high level of activity in the fourth quarter of 2009
- first quarter CAPEX was affected by unfavorable weather conditions in Europe (particularly in Poland) which meant deferring certain investments until later in the year
- CAPEX was stable in France. Investment in 3G mobile services increased in order to support the growth in data service volumes. The deployment of the residential fiber optic network, which was resumed at the beginning of the year, should bear fruit in the second half of 2010
- the Group confirms its annual CAPEX rate objective of about 12% of revenues
the organic cash flow objective of about 8 billion euros is maintained before potential acquisitions of new frequencies and excluding the impact of the payment related to the special business tax regime in France prior to 2003
Commenting on the results for the first quarter of 2010, Stéphane Richard, Chief Executive Officer of France Telecom, stated: “The Group again proved its ability to maintain its performance in terms of revenues and profitability against the backdrop of an economic and regulatory environment that remains difficult. France saw a slight improvement in revenues and the resumption of the fiber optic network deployment in more than 20 cities and towns. In the Africa and the Middle East region, the 7% growth stemmed from the stronger performance of our operations including those is the Ivory Coast, Kenya, Senegal and Uganda. On May 5, we will launch Orange in Tunisia.
“With the explosion of data services, the Group continues to invest almost 12% of its revenues annually in areas such as its 3G/3G+ mobile networks, the restarting of the fiber rollout and the deployment of new networks in emerging markets.
“I am therefore able to confirm our objectives for the full year and, along with the Group’s new executive team, thank all our employees who on a daily basis have shown their commitment during this particularly turbulent period. Today, the process of defining the Group’s new business plan is well underway and by the summer we will present France Telecom’s commitments and action plan for the next five years.”
additional information
The financial data and comparable basis data provided in this press release are unaudited.
more details here
revenues of 10.96 billion euros, down 2.7% in relation to the first quarter of 2009 on a comparable basis. Excluding the impact of regulatory measures, the decrease was limited to 0.3%- growth of 7.3% in Africa and the Middle East; strong growth continued for new operations in Africa, up 22.1% in first quarter 2010
- positive trends in other regions as well: revenues (excluding regulatory measures)rose 0.3% in France and 2.0% in Spain. Poland improved, limiting the decline to just 4.8%. Growth from other European countries was 1.2%
- in the Enterprise segment, revenues fell 6.1% (excluding equipment sales), marked by the migration towards Internet usage and the persistent slowdown in the services business
EBITDA was 3.76 billion euros, a margin of 34.3%, down 1 point on a comparable basis. Excluding the impact of regulation and new taxes, the EBITDA margin was down by only 0.7 points compared with the first quarter of 2009 CAPEX of 874 million euros: the CAPEX rate to revenues was 8.0%, compared with 9.9% in the first quarter of 2009 on a comparable basis- the investment trend in the first quarter follows the very high level of activity in the fourth quarter of 2009
- first quarter CAPEX was affected by unfavorable weather conditions in Europe (particularly in Poland) which meant deferring certain investments until later in the year
- CAPEX was stable in France. Investment in 3G mobile services increased in order to support the growth in data service volumes. The deployment of the residential fiber optic network, which was resumed at the beginning of the year, should bear fruit in the second half of 2010
- the Group confirms its annual CAPEX rate objective of about 12% of revenues
the organic cash flow objective of about 8 billion euros is maintained before potential acquisitions of new frequencies and excluding the impact of the payment related to the special business tax regime in France prior to 2003Commenting on the results for the first quarter of 2010, Stéphane Richard, Chief Executive Officer of France Telecom, stated: “The Group again proved its ability to maintain its performance in terms of revenues and profitability against the backdrop of an economic and regulatory environment that remains difficult. France saw a slight improvement in revenues and the resumption of the fiber optic network deployment in more than 20 cities and towns. In the Africa and the Middle East region, the 7% growth stemmed from the stronger performance of our operations including those is the Ivory Coast, Kenya, Senegal and Uganda. On May 5, we will launch Orange in Tunisia.
“With the explosion of data services, the Group continues to invest almost 12% of its revenues annually in areas such as its 3G/3G+ mobile networks, the restarting of the fiber rollout and the deployment of new networks in emerging markets.
“I am therefore able to confirm our objectives for the full year and, along with the Group’s new executive team, thank all our employees who on a daily basis have shown their commitment during this particularly turbulent period. Today, the process of defining the Group’s new business plan is well underway and by the summer we will present France Telecom’s commitments and action plan for the next five years.”
additional information
The financial data and comparable basis data provided in this press release are unaudited.
more details herepress contact
Tom Wright
tel.: +33 01 44 44 93 93
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