(Reuters) – French telecoms company Orange said on Friday it plans to maintain several group offices in the United Kingdom, which employ about 900 people, despite Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
The company said it was not present in the British telecoms consumer market and that the referendum vote had no direct impact on its financial exposure and balance sheet.
Britain’s decision to exit the European Union in a referendum on Thursday sent markets tumbling on Friday, with the pound sterling crashing to a 31-year low at one point.
Shares in Orange fell 7.5 percent, outperforming France’s blue chip CAC 40 index, which closed down 8.04 percent for the day after banks in particular took a hammering.
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“The group is covered against movements in the sterling and dollar exchange rates,” Orange said in the statement.
(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Richard Lough and Susan Fenton)
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