By Agency Reporter

Paris: France Telecom SA’s 2010 profit fell a smaller-than-expected 1.3 per cent as the country’s biggest phone company added more customers for broadband services, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation slid to ¤15.6bn ($21.5bn) from 15.8bn year earlier, the company said in an e-mailed statement. Analysts had predicted Ebitda of ¤15.4bn, according to the average of 30 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 1.5 per cent to ¤45.5bn.

“The group’s strong performance in 2010 signals we are on the right track with our new business plan,’ Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Stephane Richard said in the statement.

Richard is looking to guard market share at home while taking France Telecom’s Orange brand further into fast-growing emerging markets, including Africa and the Middle East.

He has pledged to spend as much as ¤7bn on emerging markets deals by 2015, part of an effort to double revenue from those regions in the period.

Revenue, excluding the impact of regulation – will “increase slightly” in 2011, the Paris-based company said. It expects its Ebitda margin to slide one percentage point this year and plans to spend about 13 per cent of revenue on capital expenditure. The company confirmed its target for organic cash flow in the year of ¤8bn.

France Telecom today said it is proposing a 2010 dividend of ¤1.40 a share and reiterated its goal of a matching dividend for 2011 and 2012.

The company’s customer base expanded six per cent last year to 209.6 million. Mobile services customers reached 150.4 million, rising 9.1 per cent as it signed up users in Africa and the Middle East.

Richard has led calls from European operators for a new relationship with technology providers such as Google Incorporation and Apple Incorporation, who the phone companies say are flooding their networks.

France Telecom won government backing for the effort in December, when Industry Minister Eric Besson said the French state would study ways in which heavy generators of Internet content might contribute to network costs.

France Telecom’s financial results no longer include the performance of its Orange UK unit, which merged with Deutsche Telekom AG’s British operations in April.

 

Source: Punch