by Mathieu Rosemain

PARIS (Reuters) – Orange on Thursday unveiled a two-year strategic plan under which the operator aims to improve its cash flow and pamper its shareholders by gradually raising the level of its dividend, supporting its share price at the opening of the Paris Stock Exchange.

Presented by Christel Heydemann, the “Lead the future” strategic plan is a first test for the general manager of the operator in charge for almost a year.

Faced with strong competition in its two main markets, France and Spain, Orange says it expects to improve the organic cash flow of telecom activities to 4 billion euros in 2025, which would represent an increase of 29% compared to the 3.1 billion achieved in 2022.

The group intends to increase its dividend to 0.72 euros per share this year and aims for 0.75 euros next year after 0.70 euros in 2022.

At 9:03 GMT, the action rose 5.41% to 10.51 euros at the top of the CAC 40 which advanced 0.70% at the same time.

Orange hopes to accelerate the recovery of activity in its Business segment, described as a “group priority” after a difficult 2022 financial year, the decline in Voice and Data services not being compensated “by growth drivers whose margins are lower. “.

The group also foresees an improvement in its growth in its cybersecurity services, noting that the turnover of Orange Cyberdefense had reached “almost its objective of one billion euros a year in advance”.

However, no mention was made of Orange Bank, its loss-making banking subsidiary.

2022 OBJECTIVES ACHIEVED

For 2022, Orange says it has achieved all the objectives set for the year. Annual revenue increased by 0.6% to 43.471 billion euros “thanks to continued strong growth in Africa & Middle East (+6.4%) and the good performance of retail services (+2.0%)”, said the French group in a press release.

EbitdaaL (gross operating surplus after rent) reached nearly 12.963 billion euros, up 2.5% like-for-like, an increase in line with the group’s objective.

“I am proud to be able to announce very solid results which confirm all of our objectives for the year despite the context of high inflation and geopolitical instability”, commented in a press release the CEO of Orange, Christel Heydemann. .

In addition to growth in organic cash flow from telecom activities, the objectives set for 2025 include slight growth in EBITDAaL and a marked increase in return on invested capital (ROCE) compared to 2022.

(Written by Nicolas Delame, edited by Kate Entringer, Jean-Michel Bélot and Blandine Hénault)

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