Orange S.A.

Orange described H1 as a record first half. Christel Heydemann said the company is raising 2026 EBITDAaL guidance to above 4% and organic cash flow guidance to circa EUR 4.3 billion, helped by the accretive cash contribution from MasOrange. On France, management said H1 EBITDAaL was affected by a wholesale one-off, but excluding that item the underlying trend was described as flat; they still expect a stable-plus full-year EBITDAaL outcome and an H2 step-up in efficiency. In France, they cited 62,000 net adds on fixed and 84,000 on mobile. In Spain, management said service revenue trends stabilized in June and they expect continued improvement in H2, while MasOrange remains cash accretive to the group. On Africa & Middle East, they said traffic is up 25% vs last year and Orange Money customer base net adds are up 50% vs last year.

Christel Heydemann struck a confident but measured tone, emphasizing execution and portfolio moves rather than one-off strength. She said the French authority-led consolidation review and the data-center project are both in line with Orange’s strategy, and framed the data-center venture as a way to unlock underused assets, professionalize the business, and create flexibility for future AI, private cloud and B2B needs. She also stressed that satellite partnerships are meant to complement terrestrial networks, not replace them, and that Orange wants optionality rather than exclusivity.

Laurent Martinez highlighted that the raised full-year cash guidance reflects both operating improvement and the MasOrange contribution. He said the Spanish acquisition is immediately accretive to EBITDAaL and should be low-CapEx intensity because Orange is not acquiring customer network assets in that deal. On Scorefit, he said the closing was done in July, the IFRS debt increase is EUR 1.3 billion, and the impact was already included in the Capital Market Day trajectory, contributing to the group’s efficiency effort and the more than EUR 600 million target for 2025 to 2028. He also said the data-center JV will create value through dividends, Orange Business revenues and margins, efficiencies for Orange France, and scale-up of the asset.

Analysts focused heavily on French consolidation timing, Spanish service revenue stabilization, and the satellite/data-center initiatives. Management said the French pre-notification started at end-June, active dialogue should continue through the next months with a market survey expected in September-October, and the H2 next-year closing target is still intact despite comments about an 18-month review. On Spain, they said churn management has improved, Digi’s client acquisition has slowed, and Orange is defending premium and mid-market segments rather than chasing ultra-low-cost pricing. On satellite, Orange said it is testing multiple constellations and partnerships in Europe and Africa/Middle East, but does not want a simple MVNO model because it believes value comes from customer experience and direct-to-customer control.