Orange Achieves 2021 Targets And Looks To Generate Organic Cash Flow Of At Least 2.9 Billion Euros In 2022

By Francois Giudice, Senior Correspondent France

Orange revenues  were up 0.8 per cent  for the full year 2021, driven by the solid performance of Africa & Middle East (+10.6%) and a strong increase in equipment sales (+8.5%).

It posted an excellent performance in Fiber: amassing 11.8 million fiber (FTTH) customers (+22.1%) out of 56.5 million connectable households (+19.7%). In France, the FTTH customer base recorded a year-on-year increase of 31.7 per cent.

EBITDAaL 0.5% lower for the year, in line with the target

Excluding the 2021 employee shareholding programme, EBITDAaL was up 0.8 per cent as a result of the notable performances in Africa & Middle East and Europe excluding Spain, which offset the decline in Spain, the Enterprise segment and France. Excluding co-financing, France posted year-on-year EBITDAaL growth of 1.5 per cent with a very strong commercial performance.

The firm’s eCAPEX rose 7.8 per cent in 2021 to 7.7 billion euros(US$8.7billion), in line with the target, after the high level of co-financing and the pandemic-related slowdown in investment seen in 2020. eCAPEX began to decline in the second half of the year.

The company’s organic cash-flow from telecoms activities stood at 2.4 billion euros, fully in line with the goal to exceed 2.2 billion euros.

The Shareholders’ Meeting of May 19 2022 will decide on the distribution of a dividend of 0.70 euros per share.

Orange has set itself the following targets for 2022:

• EBITDAaL to increase by 2.5% to 3%
• eCAPEX no greater than 7.4 billion euros
• Organic cash flow from telecoms activities of at least 2.9 billion euros
• Net debt/EBITDAaL ratio for telecoms activities unchanged at around 2x in the medium term
• Maintaining the dividend for the financial year 2022 at 0.70 euros including an interim dividend of 0.30 euros in December 2022

For 2023, Orange confirms all of its commitments including organic cashflow from telecoms activities of at least 3.5 billion euros.

Commenting on the publication of these results, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Orange group, Stéphane Richard said: “The Group’s results reflect a solid 2021 performance. Indeed, Orange has delivered on its commitments and is confirming all its objectives for 2023, including organic cashflow of between 3.5 and 4 billion euros. Thanks to our investments, today we’re the uncontested European fiber optic leader with a vast network of over 56 million connectable households across the Group’s footprint.

Our European leadership in convergence has also been confirmed with 11.5 million clients, and the integration of TKR in Romania and the process that is well under way in Belgium to acquire Voo are further reinforcing this.

In France, our largest market, our commercial performance has been very strong and customer satisfaction is constantly growing.

The dynamic in our Africa zone has been remarkable, with a 11% increase in revenues. With over 44 million 4G clients, mobile data continues its development generating revenues in this segment that are up 25 per cent.

Our ambitious moves into cybersecurity and banking are paying off. With revenues of 800 million euros, cybersecurity has delivered a 14 per cent growth in 2021 while Orange Bank now has 1.7 million clients in Europe.

Finally, our operational efficiency program “Scale Up” is well under way and we are driving our efforts forward in this regard.

The Group’s commercial performance has also been excellent, actively contributing to the achievement of our 2021 objectives in a context marked by important challenges: the move from copper to Fiber, the transition to providing IT services and also the turnaround of the situation in Spain. So, excluding non-operational factors such as the employee share offer, our margin and organic cash-flow are growing.

I’d like to express my gratitude to all of the Group’s teams right around the world who, thanks to their relentless application, have allowed us to deliver this excellent performance.

With my mandate as Chairman and Chief Executive drawing to a close in the coming weeks, it is with pride that I look upon everything that we have accomplished over these past twelve years. I am confident about Orange’s future, that of a solid company that has shown itself capable of capturing new growth opportunities while at the same time strengthening its network leadership.”