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Investing.com - Paris-listed shares of Orange edged higher on Thursday after the telecommunications group posted third-quarter profit which just topped analysts’ expectations.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization after leases, a key gauge of core income, ticked up by 3.7% versus a year ago to 3.44 billion euros, thanks to customer growth and measures to rein in expenses. Analysts had projected that the figure would stand at 3.43 billion euros, according to company-compiled estimates.
The amount of fiber-to-home customers climbed to 16 million globally, compared to 15.5 million at the end of the preceding quarter. Worldwide mobile customers, meanwhile, stood at 100.4 million, up from 98.1 million in the prior three months.
Results in the Middle East and Africa regions were especially strong, with revenue expanding in the double-digits for the tenth straight quarter, Orange said.
A "gradual deterioration" of the company’s French market over the last few quarters "is not worsening" as well, analysts at Kepler Cheuvreux said in a note, calling the overall figures "reassuring."
Orange also lifted its full-year earnings outlook, with core income now seen expanding by at least 3.5%. It had previously guided for an increase of over 3%.
The Kepler Cheuvreux analysts including Javier Borrachero said that the upgraded guidance is even "more encouraging" than the third-quarter returns because it comes despite a "challenging context" and "a tough macroeconomic backdrop that is also having a larger negative impact than expected in Orange business."
CFO Laurent Martinez added that Orange’s balance sheet gives it the firepower necessary to pursue dealmaking opportunities in France and Spain, according to Reuters.
Along with a submitted bid for the remaining 50% stake in Spanish operator MasOrange, the firm has also put forward a 17-billion euro joint offer with Bouygues Telecom and Free-Groupe Iliad to acquire a large part of Altice’s activities in France -- although Orange flagged that "there is no certainty" that an agreement on the latter transaction will be reached.