Orange results leak

A computer error causing France Telecom's results to leak a week before their release date has revealed Orange earnings have doubled.

France Telecom released key figures after it found a computer error had allowed analysts to view the figures accidentally last night.

Profits for the quarter ending 30 June, before one-off costs, doubled to £1.02bn compared with £505.7m for the same period last year.

Orange's UK customer base has increased 65 per cent from the same period in 2000 to 11.9 million.

The leak saw Orange shares jump by over four per cent to E7.66 (£4.80) by late afternoon in Paris compared to last nights close of E7.36 (£4.62).

Full figures will be released on the original date of 5 September.