LONDON -- Standard&Poor's CreditWire 3/21/97 -- Standard&Poor's today has affirmed France Telecom's (FT) double-`A'-plus senior unsecured and `A-1'-plus commercial paper ratings, following the release, on March 19-20, by the company of its 1996 financial results and by the government of further information on the privatization procedure. In 1996, in spite of the first steps of the tariff rebalancing, operating income generation has increased by over 2% to FFr30.3 billion (about US$5.5 billion) before depreciation; cash flow generation remained very strong, with funds from operations at FFr46.5 billion, in excess of as much as 19.3 billion over capital expenditures. This, together with strong working capital reduction, has enabled FT to further reduce net debt to FFr69.1 billion
