France Telecom has reported revenues of €12.69 billion for the third quarter of 2009, a decrease of 6.4% compared to €13.6 billion for the same period last year.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITA decreased 8% to €4.56 billion, compared to €4.95 billion for the third quarter of 2008. The EBITA margin was 35.9%, a decrease of 0.7 points compared to 36.5% for the same period a year ago.
For the quarter, CAPEX excluding GSM and UMTS licenses was €1.21 billion, down 16.5% compared to €1.48 billion for the third quarter of 2008.
Geographically, France revenues were down by 1.6% to €5.88 billion, compared to €5.98 billion for the same period last year. Revenues from UK were €1.28 billion, down 15.3% compared to €1.51 billion while revenues from Spain were €10.05 billion, compared to 10.56 in the same period last year.
The group had 189.1m customers at September 20, 2009 (excluding MVNOs), up 6.6% year on year with 11.7m additional customers (net of contract terminations) compared to same period last year.
Didier Lombard, chairman and CEO of France Telecom, said: “Despite mixed conditions across our footprint, our performance in France was notable. Revenues from France were up 0.6% and the takeup of new services continues to spread, particularly those related to 3G and our digital TV offers. Our ability to weather current conditions rests on the group’s financial strength, on our ability to innovate and on the commitment of our teams around the world.
“In France, we are currently in negotiations with trade unions on a new social contract that will be proposed to employees and will form an integral part of the group’s development in this country. All of these factors should enable us to rapidly take advantage of any improvement in the economic environment.”
Looking ahead, the group confirms its objective of stable cash flow at the 2008 level, which was €8 billion, excluding the acquisition of new frequencies for mobile services, which is however unlikely before the end of the year.
