France Telecom has forecast that revenues, earnings and cash flow for the current year will be in line with 2009, providing a smooth transition for incoming CEO Stephane Richard who takes over next month. “We can see that our business is generally stabilising, even in the countries hardest hit by the economic slowdown like the UK and Spain,” said CFO Gervais Pellissier in an interview, reports Reuters. Revenues for 2009 at the French firm – Europe’s third-largest telecoms group and owner of the Orange mobile brand – were down 1.9 percent to EUR50.95 billion on a comparable basis from a year earlier. Excluding the impact of regulatory measures, revenues increased 0.2 percent. Excluding its UK business (which is in the process of being merged with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK), revenues came in at EUR45.94 billion, down 1.8 percent (the firm plans to exclude the UK from all results moving forward). EBITDA was down 3.7 percent to EUR17.25 billion or EUR16.33 billion excluding the UK. Revenues were in line with consensus of EUR50.7 billion, while EBITDA was slightly better than the consensus of EUR16.9 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Net income fell to EUR3 billion compared with EUR4 billion in 2008 as a result of non-recurring charges.

According to Reuters, Stephane Richard also named a new management team largely made up of insiders. Long-time executive Jean-Philippe Vanot was named deputy CEO in charge of ‘Quality and Corporate Social Responsibility,’ while three new faces with political backgrounds were brought in, including the former French Culture Minister Christine Albanel and the CEO of the state-funded news agency Agence France, Presse Pierre Louette. Richard affirmed the group’s targets of generating EUR8 billion in free cash flow this year and next, and pledged his commitment to paying out a shareholder dividend. He also said he would not embark on large M&A deals, preferring a policy of “selective acquisitions aimed primarily at emerging markets” such as the Middle East and Africa.