France Telecom - Company analysis

Résumé du document

France Telecom is a communications access provider offering customers access through multiple platforms: France Telecom has its presence in four business sectors. It is the first telecommunication service provider in France. (under the brand France Telecom). It is also the first mobile service provider in France and the second in Europe along with Orange (AC). With Wanadoo, the group is the second largest Broadband access provider under the Wanadoo brand in Europe. France Telecom (FTE) offers services to companies with its subsidiary Equant (EQU).

Extraits

[...] This will indeed help the company to go on building a strong brand image. We can think that this will be a very good point, notably for the international development of the company. [...]

[...] Thanks to the transformation that I initiated with all the Group's employees, France Telecom will be even more responsive and effective and will maintain its leadership". Comment on the evolution of the price of the stock Here is the graph of the stock of France Telecom (FTE) since its stock market flotation. As we can see, the stock has soared until the crash of the year 2000. After its peak at 190, the value of the stock as literally dropped until the end of September 2002, at less than 6. [...]

[...] The competition did not affect the price of the share because it did not affect the result of the company yet. France Telecom remained leader on a market that was growing fast especially concerning the mobile telephony. The mobile of the “third generation” with much multimedia functionality was a huge selling success. The investors and the share holders trusted the company and thought the growth will not stop so soon. In the meantime, the company acquired many foreign firms especially in the United Kingdom and in Germany (MobilCom). [...]

[...] In 2004 France Telecom is convict to pay back billion in alleged unlawful subsidies (in breach of state aid rules) it received from the French government, following an 18-month investigation by Mario Monti, the EC Competition Commissioner. France Telecom and the French government are appealing this decision. The former CEO of France Telecom Thierry Breton was appointed in 2002 after leaving his previous company Thomson SA (formerly THOMSON Multimedia SA, owner of the legendary American brand RCA) where he served as the CEO. On February he has been appointed minister of finance and industries. [...]

[...] The day when France Telecom announced this rebranding, the share “France Telecom” increased of at 17.46 Debts of France Telecom & Interest Rates France Telecom is a group which has debts of 47.8 billions (IFRS norms International Financial Reporting Standards). France Telecom is very sensitive to the variation of the Interest Rates. This factor is very important for the share and the shareholders because if the Interest Rates increase, it will immediately increase debts of the company. Shareholders prefer companies which haven't important debts and which give to them big dividend. [...]