At the announcement of its Q1 2009 results yesterday, France Telecom revealed its financial aims to grow revenue at a pace that exceeds the average GDP growth in countries where France Telecom operates.
Group level revenues did increase marginally at 0.4% y-o-y on a comparable 1Q08 basis. Against a negative 1.7% in GDP growth in 1Q 2009, France Telecom’s performance matched its financial aims during this global economic downturn. Overall EBITDA margins in 1Q narrowed slightly as expected; reaching 33.9% of revenues compared to 2008’s 34.3%.
France Telecom believes that it has performed well in the face of a global economic downturn that accelerated in 2H of last year and aims to continue outperforming average GDP growth in the countries where it has operations.
It remains cautious about its CAPEX plans as operations in each country monitors demand and competitive dynamics for prudent investment for the remaining quarters this year.
France Telecom revealed that it had initiated a country level CAPEX prioritisation which helped reduce CAPEX spending in 1Q by 0.7%. For example, additional capacity roll-out in Eastern Europe was on hold in response to lower traffic and as were new investment planned in Africa.
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