Orange Q2 profit rises helped by Africa and Middle East

French telecom operator Orange reported a rise in second-quarter core profit on Wednesday, mainly on a strong performance in Africa and the Middle East.

Core profit after leases rose 2.6% year-on-year to 3.11 billion euros ($119.28 million), broadly in line with a company-provided consensus that had expected 3.10 billion.

That was helped by Africa and the Middle East where revenues grew 10.3%. In Europe, they declined 2.2%, but the group still made a profit there.