Orange booked gains in consumer units across its footprint in Q2, while the company’s chief Stephane Richard proclaimed the company as Europe’s leader in providing converged communications services.

In the period to the end of June it increased revenue by 1.4 per cent to €10.18 billion, with its carrier services and enterprise arms the only units to show a year-on-year decline.

The largest percentage gains were in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) – up 2.1 per cent compared to Q2 2017 to €1.27 billion – and Spain where revenue increased 1.8 per cent year-on-year to €1.32 billion.

The company added had it not been for currency fluctuations in MEA, revenue in the region would have been up 5.2 per cent year-on-year.

Revenue from Orange’s largest market, France, increased 0.6 per cent to €4.46 billion for the quarter. Its home country made up 44 per cent of its total sales for the quarter.

Convergence
In a statement, chairman and CEO Stephane Richard (pictured) praised the company’s “accelerated growth” across its markets in the first half of the year and reiterated comments made in Q1 on the success with providing converged services across Europe.

“The success of our convergent offers was clear yet again,” he said. “With more than 10 million convergent customers, Orange confirms its position as the leading convergent operator in Europe. We are proud to have been a pioneer on convergence – now an industry standard – which we see as an excellent lever both for customer loyalty and value creation.”

Analysts concurred. “Another positive set of results predominately driven by convergence. Its extensive network investment is reaping benefits,” Paolo Pescatore told Mobile World Live.

Net profit is not broken out on a quarterly basis, however across the first half of the year it booked a net profit of €879 million on revenue of €20.3 billion.

The figure was up 22 per cent year-on-year, attributed to an improvement on its net finance costs and boost in operating income. Gains, it added, were partly offset by an increase in corporation tax.

Looking ahead, Pescatore urged Orange to look at M&A again: “The question of consolidation will not go away. If Orange wants to be a serious European player it must be active otherwise it faces the prospect of being left behind. There are opportunities to cement its position in Europe especially in the south. It’s all about scale. And lets not forget content; acquiring a media related company such as Vivendi would be a good strategic fit.”