Executing Heydemann’s strategy
The Middle East and Africa (MEA) was the major contributor to growth in France’s Orange Group (OG) in the first quarter of 2023. A growth driver programme for the MEA, presided over by Jerome Henique, (pic below) Directeur Général d’Orange Afrique et Moyen-Orient (OMEA) helped create a ‘sharp 9.1% increase in revenues’ said Orange in a release.
The additional €141 million was nearly two and a half times the growth in Europe, whose rise of €102 million represented a 3.8% growth rate. Poland was an exceptional European performer where sales were up by 7.1%, while Spain saw a repeat in the trend of a return to growth, its rise of 2.8% being the third consecutive quarter of upward movement.
Firing on all cylinders
An improvement in retail services sales of 2.8% accounted for €219 million, largely due to repricing in Europe. Along with the MEA growth driver the European repricing helped swell overall revenues by 1.3% compared with the first quarter of 2022. According to Orange Group CEO Christel Heydemann, the enterprise engines are all beginning to fire in on all cylinders, with the tappets of revenues and earnings and eCAPEX beginning to show signs of alignment and fine tuning.
“The increase in revenues and EBITDAaL and the decrease in eCapex compared to Q1 2022, are in line with our objectives for 2023 and reinforce our ambition for the years to come. We have started to execute our Lead the Future strategic plan,” she said.
Orange Group has adopted a more value-oriented commercial strategy thanks to the quality of its networks and services while its cost controls mean its growth is being fuelled more economically allowing us to partially offset inflation, according to Heydemann.
The outstanding contributors this quarter have been the units in the Middle East and Africa. “Our performance is once again driven by the remarkable growth in Africa and the Middle East” said Heydemann, “we’ve had double-digit revenue growth in our Orange Money business in Africa.”
As with the return to growth in Spain for three consecutive quarters, the group’s success in MEA is proof of the strength of the Group and its ability to respond to increased competitive pressure, she said. “In France, retail services continue to grow and this should further accelerate [while] we are executing our transformation plan the Enterprise.”
