Telecommunications stocks in Europe were troubled yesterday by France Telecom's announcement that it was going to lop another €10 billon off the indicative price for its flotation of Orange.
The range is now €45.6 billion-€52.8 billion, compared with the previous €55.2 billion-€64.8 billion. France Telecom's shares fell 6.7 per cent to €83, their lowest level since October 1999. The Belgian mobile operator Mobistar, majority owned by France Telecom, fell 6 per cent to €28.21.
Other European telecoms "incumbents" such as Deutsche Telekom, KPN and British Telecom also hope to bring their mobile phone offshoots to market this year to help pay off debts.
Deutsche Telekom fell 3.7 per cent to €33.11, KPN fell 7.5 per cent to €14.66 and BT fell 5.8 per cent to 728.75p.
It was not just the fixed-line operators that were down but also the alternative carriers and pure mobile companies.
Vodafone, relatively untroubled by debts, fell 2.5 per cent to 221.75p. The worst performer was Finland's Sonera, down more than 10 per cent to €18.04. Its shares have been struggling amid media reports of management unrest.
In spite of the poor omens for Orange, Europe's IPO market continued to show fresh signs of life following Deutsche Borse's successful launch on Monday.
Yesterday the French software company Business & Decision rose to a premium of more than 20 per cent on its debut on the Nouveau Marche, closing at €16.44.
Technology stocks also had bad news after US bellwether Cisco Systems missed its earnings forecasts for the first time in six years. The stocks most in the firing line included telecoms equipment maker Alcatel, off 4 per cent, and the chipmakers STMicroelectronics and Infineon, off 6.5 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively. Software maker SAP fell 3.6 per cent to €189.90.
