Orange reported a slight rise in revenue in Q2 2019, as the company was boosted by a more stable home market and growth across its Africa and Middle East unit.

In a statement, Orange said revenue for the period reached €10.4 billion, a rise of 0.5 per cent year on year, while core operating income hit €2.4 billion, up 1.6 per cent.

Revenue was driven largely “by the powerful engine of Africa and the Middle East”, which rose 5.8 per cent, generating a total €2.7 billion.

It was fuelled by a strong performance of retail services and mobile-only platforms. The company said data was also a big contributor, with nearly 20 million 4G customers, while its Orange Money customer base rose 6 per cent.

Stable home
In France, the company said revenue stabilised in Q2, growing 0.4 per cent in the period to hit €4.5 billion, due to strength in both its mobile and fixed broadband businesses. Retail service revenue was down 1.5 per cent, but still represented an improvement on the 2.6 per cent decline in Q1 2019.

Revenue from convergent offers rose 4 per cent, with the impact being felt on mobile-only services as a result, which fell 3.7 per cent. Orange said its convergent customer base rose 3.1 per cent year on year, to hit 5.7 million customers.

A more stable home market follows a period of intense competition in France, which was triggered by the entrance of low-cost operator Iliad into the market in 2012. It led Orange, Bouygues and Altice’s SFR to slash prices to compete in order to maintain competition.

A strong performance at home and in its emerging markets units was offset by struggles in Spain, where revenue declined 1.6 per cent, “in a very competitive . market environment”.

Orange said its Spain performance was affected by a promotional market, with convergent and mobile only revenues down 3.6 per cent and 7.8 per cent respectively. Fixed revenue rose 4.1 per cent, thanks to strength in enterprise.

CEO and chairman Stephane Richard noted there was strong competition “in our key markets”, but it was still able to deliver a good performance, while adding that Africa and Middle East was “more than ever an important growth driver for Orange”.

In total, Orange finished the period with 206.9 million mobile customers, with 3.3 million added in the first half of 2019.