France Telecom has reported a 35 percent decline in full year 2008 net profit but predicted that it would be resilient to the global economic crisis moving forward. Net profit for the year declined to EUR4.07 billion due mainly to an increase in taxes, but annual turnover rose 1 percent to EUR53.5 billion, beating most analysts’ expectations. The operator reported a EUR1.463 billion corporate tax bill for the year. France Telecom is Europe’s third-largest telecoms group (after Vodafone and Telefonica) and owner of the Orange brand. “These results show that the group is well armed to face an economic environment that has been particularly unsettled,” said CEO and chairman Didier Lombard. The group reported a 7 percent increase in its total customer base to 182.3 million by year-end. This included an 11 percent rise in mobile subscribers to 121.8 million.

In its 2009 outlook, France Telecom said in a statement it was “strongly positioned to maintain or increase its market share in the countries where it is present” and forecast that revenue growth would be greater than the average GDP trend within the group’s footprint. It added that it was planning to keep cash flow generation at EUR8 billion (unchanged from 2008) and maintain capex at 12 to 13 percent of sales. However, Lombard admitted that the outlook would be revised if the economic downturn intensifies. The outlook forms part of France Telecom’s new ‘Orange 2012’ financial plan, which was also announced today. The group said the new plan should generate up to EUR1.5 billion in terms of annual savings on costs or investments. As well as the cash flow and capex targets, the group is also targeting a net debt to EBITDA ratio of less than 2.