Orange CEO Christel Heydemann (pictured) highlighted the company’s continued recovery in Spain and a jump in earnings from its MEA unit during Q2, though a provision to cover pension plan reforms in France blunted its bottom line.

The operator booked a 2 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue to €10.9 billion, attributed to retail services following price rises in Europe.

Gains on the continent, excluding France, were driven by its Spanish unit, with Heydemann describing the market as continuing to recover.

Orange’s improvement in the “highly competitive” Spanish market was partly attributed to “higher value-added offers, combined with a rigorous marketing policy and growth in B2B activities”, the company stated.

In its largest market of France, revenue dropped on a decline in wholesale, though the company expects to recognise gains in H2 as price rises are reflected in its results.

Operations in the Middle East and Africa delivered a 12 per cent revenue rise to €1.8 billion.

As in Q1, Heydemann credited elements of its current strategic plan for meeting its Q2 objectives, adding the “excellent performance” in MEA was “down to our investments in the network, the satisfaction of our customers and the very strong rebound of Orange Money”.

She noted positive results elsewhere had offset those of its Business division, where staff “are fully focused on executing our transformation plan”.

In H1, net income was €1.1 billion, down from almost €1.5 billion in H1 2022, partly blamed on a pre-tax provision of €257 million related to pension reforms in France.

Revenue for was up 2 per cent at €21.5 billion.