France's Orange posts Q4 profit beat on rebound in home market
Feb 13 (Reuters) - French telecom operator Orange (ORAN.PA), opens new tab on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter core profit that beat market expectations, as its home market swung into profit.
Group earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation and amortisation after leases (EBITDAaL) - a common metric used by telecom firms to measure core profit - rose 3.2% to 3.25 billion euros ($3.39 billion) in the fourth quarter of last year.
A company-provided consensus had expected 3.21 billion euros.
The company's core profit in France rebounded for the first time since 2020, driven by price increases, despite facing stiff competition from no-frills brands, diminishing household budgets, price pressure from peers like Iliad and Bouygues (BOUY.PA), opens new tab, and a decline in demand for broadband services post-pandemic.
"Our drivers (in France) have been the retail services, which are up 2.6%. And this is a combination of value strategy with price increases and a very good management of our base," CFO Laurent Martinez said in a call with reporters.
Martinez also said the company has been using artificial intelligence for a number of years and is investing 6 billion euros of capex per year.
The company currently has 150 active AI use cases, which generated 200 million euros in value in 2024 and expects to generate more than 300 million euros in 2025 with the help of the technology.
In November, Orange struck a multi-year partnership with OpenAI in Europe, giving the telecom operator access to pre-release AI models.
By the end of 2024, Orange had expanded its FTTH (fiber to the home) connectivity to 60.1 million households globally, reflecting a 9.3% annual increase. Its FTTH customer base increased to 13.5 million, a 14.3% year-over-year rise.
Orange confirmed its 2025 targets and raises its organic cash flow target to at least 3.6 billion euros.
($1 = 0.9585 euros)
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