Sustained financial performance despite the macro-economic context and a highly competitive market environment on a national scale

Press release
Embargoed until July 22, 2022 at 7 a.m.
Regulated information – confidential information

Financial information relating to the first half of 2022

Sustained financial performance despite the macro-economic context and a highly competitive market environment at national scale

• Mobile customer base postpaid +3.5% / Cable customer base +13.9% YoY
• Revenue increased by +3.3%, and services billed to thex customers +6.4% in H1 year-on-year
• L’EBITDAaL grew by +3.5% year-on-year in H1

Significant operational elements – S1

• Lhe commercial performance remained positive, especially with customers postpaiddespite limited market growth compared to last year in a very competitive environment on a national scale.
• Thanks to the success of the Go wallet, the effectiveness of the “Go Extreme Special Edition” promotion as well as the hey wallet, Orange belgium recorded 33,000 new mobile subscribers postpaid, totaling 2.8 million subscribers (+3.5% year-on-year).
• The cable customer base grew by 22,000, ending the period at 417,000 subscribers (+13.9% year-on-year) in a context of the end of the Covid acceleration.
• B2C convergent ARPO decreased by 0.6% year-on-year at 73.2 euros, which is mainly the result of reductions offered on convergent mobile plans, as well as the growth of the basic Love Duo customer base.
• Mobile ARPO postpaid grew by 1.5% year-on-year to €19.9, which results mainly from the increase in customer roaming traffic.

Significant financial elements – S1

• Revenue amounted to €677.3 million, up 3.3%, despite the loss of Mobile Vikings revenue from Q2 2022. Services billed to customers continued to grow by 6.4%, mainly driven by higher revenue from convergent services (+13, 0% YoY).
• L’EBITDAaL grew 3.5% year-on-year to €166.8 million, driven mainly by the increase in revenue from services billed to customers and by effective cost control despite the macro-economic context. The EBITDAaL margin remained stable at 24.6%.
• The eCapex increased by 5.8% year-on-year to €86.0 million, which is mainly due to the acceleration of the implementation of the mobile access network sharing agreement with Proximus and the deployment of 5G

1. eCapex are exclusive of frequency acquisition costs. In H1 2021, the amount of frequency acquisition costs amounted to 10.9 million euros. In H1 2022, the amount of frequency acquisition costs amounted to 10.9 million euros.
2. Operating cash flow defined as EBITDAaL – eCapex excluding frequency acquisition costs.

Xavier Pichon, Chief Executive Officer, comments:

Events around the world in the first half of this year had a major impact on the macro-economic situation, characterized by unprecedented inflation and rising energy costs. Additionally, we have seen a slowdown in the market, as well as less market movement in a highly competitive domestic market environment. Despite this situation, Orange Belgium managed to record a positive commercial performance, consolidating its position in mobile and improving its market share in broadband. A proof of the strong resilience of society.

In the June auction for the allocation of 5G spectrum, we managed to obtain the maximum of the main 5G frequencies available, which will allow us to deploy a multi-gigabit 5G network with coverage and capacity. exceptional. This deployment, associated with the discontinuation of 3G, and later of 2G, will make it possible to benefit from optimal use of the spectrum by offering optimal services to our subscribers. Furthermore, during the semester, we have already opened the 5G network to our postpaid subscribers and we have announced the opening of a second 5G Lab in the heart of Liège. True to our commitment to be a committed and responsible operator, we have also opened the Orange Digital Center in Brussels, a free place open to all designed to promote learning.

Antoine Chouc, CFO, adds:

Like last year, we managed to publish a solid financial result, both for turnover and for EBITDAaL. Despite the loss of Mobile Vikings, our revenue improved in the first half. This increase is mainly due to the positive commercial performance as well as the revision of our pricing models in fixed and mobile.

In the current context of macro-economic uncertainty, characterized by rising inflation and rising energy costs, we have managed to control our costs. Indirect costs increased at a lower rate than inflation over the period. These efforts enabled us to improve our EBITDAaL by 3.5% compared to the same period last year.

We remain cautiously optimistic and maintain our objectives for the 2022 financial year: low single-digit revenue growth, EBITDAaL between €350 million and €370 million, and eCapex between €210 million. euros and 230 million euros.