Commenting on these results, Christel Heydemann, Chief Executive Officer of the Orange group, said:
“Orange delivered robust first quarter results, in line with our forecasts, with EBITDAaL growth of 3.2%. In an uncertain economic context, these results demonstrate the resilience of our business and the trust our customers have in the quality of our services across all our regions.
In France, we maintained our commercial discipline and continued to grow retail revenues, thanks to strong performances in fiber and convergence. In a competitive environment, the variety of our offers across all market segments and the satisfaction of our customers make Orange the leader by market share, NPS and churn.
The Africa & Middle East region experienced exceptional double-digit revenue growth for the eighth consecutive quarter. All growth engines are performing well, in particular our data offers, which represent 60% of growth this quarter. This momentum is driven by our 4G and 5G networks, used by more than 80 million customers, as well as the deployment of digital services, such as our Max it super app, which now has close to 20 million users.
In the B2B market, Orange Cyberdefense’s growth remained solid at 8%, driven mainly by the robust performance in France. Orange Business, which continues to enact its transformation plan, also launched 5G+ in France and new trusted GenAI offers through Live Intelligence Open in Europe.
Finally, during this quarter, we signed three agreements with our trade unions in France, in particular the unanimous agreement reached on Employment and Career Path Planning for France (Gestion des Emplois et des Parcours Professionnels - GEPP), which will enable us to train, recruit and support the deployment of our teams. These agreements lay the foundations for working with our employees to meet future technological, economic and environmental challenges.”
First quarter 2025 revenues reached 9,911 million euros, up 0.6% year on year[1] (+62 million euros) thanks to growth in retail services (+2.4% or +181 million euros) and a smaller decline in wholesale services (-3.1% or -44 million euros). Equipment sales were 5.7% lower (-38 million euros) and other revenues were down 13.9% (-37 million euros).
- Africa & Middle East is the main contributor to this growth, with revenues up 12.8% (+231 million euros), driven by increases from its four growth engines (+21.0% in Mobile data, +19.1% in Fixed broadband, +22.1% for Orange Money and +17.1% in B2B across all activities).
- Revenues in France decreased 1.3% (-55 million euros) but retail services excluding PSTN[2] grew 1.5%, while wholesale services (-4.3%) declined as expected.
- Europe remained stable (-0.2% or -3 million euros). Retail services (excluding IT&IS) grew 1.2% (+14 million euros) and IT and Integration Services revenues returned to growth rising 17.0% (+18 million euros). Low-margin revenues were down: wholesale services (-6.6% or -13 million euros) and equipment sales (-7.4% or -20 million euros).
- The decrease in Orange Business revenues (-4.9% or -96 million euros) was due to the decline in Fixed-only revenues (-7.4% or -56 million euros) and in mobile revenues (-6.9% or -17 million euros). IT and Integration Services were down (-2.5% or -23 million euros) in a competitive market while revenue growth for Orange Cyberdefense remained brisk (+8.0% or +23 million euros).
- In terms of commercial performance, the Group maintained its leadership position in convergence in Europe (including France), with a total of 9.2 million convergent customers (+1.1%), as well as its commercial momentum in mobile contracts and very high-speed fixed broadband accesses. Mobile services had 256.0 million accesses worldwide (+5.5%) including 95.7 million contracts (+5.5%). Fixed services had 38.1 million accesses worldwide (-2.8%), with 22.1 million fixed broadband accesses (+3.7%), of which 15.0 million very high-speed broadband accesses, an area of continued strong growth (+13.4%).
The Group’s EBITDAaL was 2,480 million euros for the period ended 31 March 2025, an increase of +3.2% in line with the target of around 3% growth in 2025. This growth reflects the good retail performance as well as the ongoing efforts to improve operational efficiency.
eCAPEX amounted to 1,463 million euros in the first quarter of 2025, up 6.6%[3] (+91 million euros). eCAPEX for telecom activities as a percentage of revenues was 14.8%, in line with the 2025 target.
In the first quarter of 2025, a provision of 1,644 million euros was recognized for the commitment related to the agreement on Employment and Career Path Planning for France (Gestion des Emplois et des Parcours Professionnels - GEPP) signed in February 2025, and relating mainly to the 2025-2028 French part-time for seniors plan (adjusted expense from EBITDAaL and presented as specific labor expenses and restructuring program costs)[4].
Lastly, MASORANGE, our 50% owned joint venture in Spain, is performing fully in line with its targets and delivering the expected synergies.
Financial objectives
The Group confirms its financial targets for 2025:
- EBITDAaL growth of around +3%
- Discipline on eCAPEX in line with the Capital Market Day
- Organic cash flow from telecom activities of at least 3.6 billion euros
- Net debt/EBITDAaL ratio from telecom activities unchanged at around 2x in the medium term
Payment of a dividend of 0.75 euros per share in respect of the 2024 fiscal year will be proposed to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in 2025. For fiscal year 2025, Orange has set a dividend floor of 0.75 euros per share.
To read the complete press release please download the attached pdf file.
[1] Unless otherwise stated, percentage changes are on a year-on-year basis, calculated against 31 March 2024 on a comparable basis.
[2] Public Switched Telephone Network
[3] On a comparable basis, excluding 166 million euros of eCAPEX for Spain booked in the first quarter of 2024 in the Group’s financial statements
[4] See Appendix 2
