French-headquartered European mobile phone and services distributor Avenir Telecom reported sales down 20 percent to EUR 103.2 million in its fiscal first quarter to 30 June, compared to EUR 129 million in the year-earlier period, acording Telecompaper. The company noted a slowdown in mobile phone volumes and new contracts in a difficult market context, although accessories sales remained strong.
Direct retail revenues fell by 7.1 percent to EUR 55.8 million and indirect distribution was down by 31.2 percent to EUR 47.4 million. By geographic area, sales in France were down 26.4 percent to EUR 39.9 million, Spain and Portugal down by 1.4 percent to EUR 38.6 million, Western Europe down by 37.2 percent to EUR 11.3 million, Eastern Europe down by 20.8 percent to EUR 5.6 million,fand emerging countries down by 25.7 percent to EUR 7.8 million.
Despite a lack of short term visibility linked to economic uncertainties, Avenir Telecom expects to benefit from growth in the long term thanks to handset replacements with the arrival of 4G and very high speed mobile services.
