DOHA: Telecom major Ooredoo’s net profit to the shareholders stood at QR 2.1bn for the first nine months of 2014, up 0.5 percent compared to a year ago. On a quarterly basis, the Group delivered an 11 percent increase in the net profit to QR375m against Q3, 2013.
Excluding the impact of foreign currency gains and losses in Opcos and Myanmar start-up costs and IM2 provision, the Group’s net profit would have grown by 3 percent on year-on-year.
The Group revenue for the period was down 3 percent to QR24.8bn compared to a year ago. Earnings per share during the nine months stood at QR6.49 compared with QR6.46 for the same period in 2013.
As on September 30, 2014, the Group’s consolidated customer base stood at 95.7 million (89.6 million till Sept 30, 2013) representing year-on-year growth of 7 percent. Group EBITDA decreased by 9 percent to QR10bn (QR11bn till Sept 30, 2013) with EBITDA margin decreasing to 41 percent (44 percent till Sept 30, 2013) due to lower revenues and the continued investment across the business into customer acquisition and retention, global brand roll-out, service launches and customer experience. The Group continues to invest in its start-up operation in Myanmar, its recovery strategy in Ooredoo Kuwait and has been impacted during the period by the current security situation in Iraq.
Commenting on the results, Ooredoo Chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani: “Ooredoo has delivered a solid set of results despite the challenges facing some of its markets. The increasing use of data by our customers and Ooredoo’s move into new service capabilities such as financial transactions demonstrate the enormous power of our best-in-class data networks. They offer transformative means of communication to individuals, communities and businesses across our markets and illustrate how Ooredoo is progressing its strategy. Our networks and services continue to bring positive change across our markets.”
Ooredoo Group Chief Executive Officer Dr Nasser Marafih said: “Our results for the nine months demonstrate the clear progress of our strategy to create a world-leading, data centric business. We are increasingly building a growing level of revenue from data as our customers consume more data based services from their fixed and mobile communication devices. Strong results were achieved in our domestic market in Qatar, in Oman where the “turbocharging” of the network is delivering strong numbers and in Algeria, where we benefit from the most advanced 3G network. Despite the progress of our strategy, some of our markets continue to experience a range of challenges…. Our investment in our networks, services and branding will ensure that Ooredoo will continue to differentiate and deliver value for shareholders and customers alike.”
Ooredoo Qatar delivered strong results during the period; in particular, growing revenue and increased market share from data services. Revenue was up by 9 percent year-on-year to QR5bn (till Sept 30, 2013 QR4bn), while EBTIDA performance increased by 11 percent year-on-year to QR2bn. Consolidated customers increased by 8 percent to 3 million — hitting this impressive milestone for the first time in the company’s history.
The Peninsula
