By Najat Kantouar


Orange maintained its full-year targets after delivering higher revenue for the second quarter, driven by a strong performance in Africa and the Middle East.

The French telecommunications company said Wednesday that revenue for the quarter rose to 9.99 billion euros ($10.84 billion) from EUR9.835 billion for the same period a year earlier, missing a consensus forecast of EUR10.015 billion based on six analysts' forecasts taken from FactSet.

Revenue at its Africa and the Middle East division grew 10%, driven by a robust performance in voice as well as double-digit increases in its four growth engines, including mobile data, fixed broadband, Orange Money and in business-to-business across all activities.

In Europe, revenue declined 2.2% due to a reduction in low-margin activities. In France revenue rose 0.3% on growth in retail services.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and after leases, or Ebitdaal--the company's preferred metric--rose 2.6% in the quarter to EUR3.11 billion, beating a consensus of EUR3.09 billion based on three analysts' forecasts.

The group will make an interim dividend payment of 0.30 European cents a share for 2024 in December, it said.

Orange reiterated its full-year guidance with low single-digit growth in Ebitda after leases and organic cash flow from telecom activities of at least EUR3.3 billion.


Write to Najat Kantouar at najat.kantouar@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-24-24 0202ET