By Najat Kantouar
Orange delivered higher revenue for the first quarter, boosted by strong revenue growth in its Africa and Middle East division, and backed its full-year guidance.
The French telecommunications company said Wednesday that revenue for the quarter rose to 9.85 billion euros ($10.54 billion) from EUR9.65 billion for the same period a year earlier, missing a forecast of EUR10.79 billion based on two estimates taken from FactSet.
Revenue at its Africa and the Middle East division grew 11%, led by a robust performance in voice and double-digit increases in mobile data, fixed broadband, Orange Money and in B2B, despite the devaluation of the Egyptian pound, the company said.
In Europe, revenue declined 2% due to a reduction in low-margin activities, offset partially by the continued growth of retail services excluding IT and integration services.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and the cost of leased assets, or Ebitdaal--the company's preferred metric--rose to EUR2.41 billion from EUR2.35 billion. An estimate taken from FactSet had Ebitdaal at EUR2.69 billion.
Orange backed its full-year guidance for low single-digit growth in Ebitda after leases and organic cash flow from telecom activities of at least EUR3.3 billion.
Write to Najat Kantouar at najat.kantouar@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-24-24 0148ET