* Competition dents sales in France, Spain
* Sales stabilisation in Spain will "take time" -exec
* Update on possible networks sales to come on Dec. 4 - CFO
* Stock is worst-performer on CAC 40
(Recasts story, adds comments)
By Mathieu Rosemain
PARIS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Orange shares extended
losses on Tuesday after a top executive said that sales in
Spain, the telecoms group's second-biggest market, would remain
under pressure from competitors cutting prices in coming months.
France's number one telecoms operator has been struggling to
compete since Iliad started to offer low cost mobile
services in the country in 2012.
A new round of price promotions in Spain, where Orange's
competitors include Vodafone and Masmovil, saw
third-quarter sales there fall by 2.5% on a comparable basis.
The fall was 0.4% in France.
"We expect to be able to get back to stabilising and even
growing revenues but that's going to take a little bit of time,"
said Laurent Paillassot, the head of Orange Spain, in a call
with analysts.
"Meanwhile our focus is on preserving the EBITDA (earnings
before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation)."
The group's shares extended losses during the analyst call
and were down by about 2% at 1037 GMT, making it the
worst-performer on France's benchmark CAC 40 index.
AFRICA RESCUE
Orange said earlier that strong demand in Africa and the
Middle East helped it offset the revenue falls in France and
Spain.
Sales in Africa advanced by 7.6% in the third quarter,
driven by strong growth in subscriber numbers and the success of
its money transfer services.
Overall, quarterly group sales rose 0.8% on a comparable
basis to 10.6 billion euros ($11.8 billion), while core
operating profit climbed 0.2% to 3.62 billion euros, in line
with expectations.
The company also signalled it would update markets at an
investor day on Dec. 4 about a possible sale of its mobile and
fibre networks in Europe.
"We've already made a number of comments on how to best
value our infrastructure assets," Chief Financial Officer Ramon
Fernandez told reporters on a call. "We'll tell you a lot more
on December 4."
French rivals Bouygues Telecom, Iliad and Altice
Europe's SFR have all opened their mobile networks to
other investors.
Orange confirmed its full-year guidance, including for
slightly lower core operating profit growth than in 2018, as
well as lower investments after they peaked last year.
($1 = 0.9019 euros)
(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Matthias Blamont,
Mark Potter, Kirsten Donovan)