DUBAI: Oman Telecommunications (Omantel) reported a 3.9 percent rise in third-quarter profit yesterday, beating analyst estimates as broadband revenue increased.
The former monopoly made a net profit of OR29.1m ($75.58m) in the three months to September 30, up from OR28m in the year-earlier period, the company said in a statement.
Analysts on average forecast Omantel would make a quarterly profit of OR27.8m.
Third-quarter revenue was OR112.3m. This compares with OR108.4m a year ago.
For the first nine months of 2013, Omantel's mobile broadband subscriber base increased by 49 percent from a year earlier as revenue from this segment rose 64 percent.
Fixed broadband subscribers increased by 33 percent over the same period, leading to a 35 percent revenue rise from these customers.
UAE to offer new Das crude blend by July
ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) will blend its Lower Zakum and Umm Shaif oils into a new export crude called Das by July 2014, the state oil company said yesterday.
Oil market trade sources said in June that ADNOC was planning to offer the Das blend from early 2014.
The two similar quality crude streams are currently exported separately from the same terminal on Das Island in the Gulf by Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company.
It is not clear how the Das Island blend crude will be priced. The UAE typically sells Lower Zakum at a premium to Umm Shaif , while the benchmark Murban crude is usually sold at a premium to both.
ADCB prices $500m floating rate note
DUBAI: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank sold a $500m floating rate note due in January 2017, a document from lead managers said.
The transaction was priced at 130 basis points over the three-month London interbank offered rate (Libor), 5 bps tighter than guidance announced earlier in the day.
Leads said in an update at around 1215 GMT that investors had submitted bids worth more than $900m for the deal.
Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase and Standard Chartered are the arrangers of the offering, the bank’s first public debt sale since a $300m subordinated bond completed in May.
Oman Chlorine to set up venture in UAE
ABU DHABI: Oman Chlorine will set up a $70m chlorine-alkali plant in Abu Dhabi to cater to the oil and gas sector in the Gulf, its managing director said yesterday.
Union Chlorine, a joint venture between Oman Chlorine and Abu Dhabi-based private firm Horizon Energy, would produce 70 tonnes per day of caustic soda, hydrochloric acid and sodium hypochlorite. The plant would begin commercial production in the third quarter of 2015. Reuters
