Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani, Chairman of Ooredoo Kuwait

KUWAIT CITY: NMTC (Ooredoo), a member of Ooredoo Group, announced yesterday its financial results for the first half of 2016. Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani, Chairman of Ooredoo Kuwait - (NMTC) commented:

"Ooredoo NMTC generated good levels of profitability during the first half of the year, with net profit increasing by 30% to KWD 19 million during the period. We have also grown our customer base by over 2% to reach almost 25 million despite some the pressures the business faced during the period. Ooredoo NMTC has performed well during the period despite the challenges our businesses face. Ooredoo's high quality data networks, innovative services and pricing has meant that we have continued to perform well, delivering value to our customers and shareholders. Ooredoo Kuwait delivered growth across the business in a market which remains highly competitive. Growth was driven by postpaid wireless and wireless broadband customers, which resulted in revenue increasing by nearly 10% and a near 4% improvement in EBITDA.

Ooredoo Algeria produced an improved set of results despite the reported numbers being affected by the depreciation of the Algerian Dinar against the US Dollar. Increased revenue was up by 2%, against the overall downward trend of the market in a tough macroeconomic environment. Ooredoo's aggressive marketing of its data services based on its superior network quality saw the business capture a growing share of the 3G data market. Post period, Ooredoo Algeria finalized the pre-launch phase for 4G services with new Algerian network speed records during trials in July 2016.

Ooredoo Tunisia operates in a challenging economic and political situation. However, the business improved quarter on quarter despite the impact of currency depreciation on reported financials. oredoo Tunisia maintained its market leading position with 7.6 million customers despite the introduction of mobile portability in April. Both Ooredoo Maldives and Wataniya Palestine performed well. Ooredoo Maldives had a strong six months, with revenues increasing by almost 40% and EBITDA by more than 60%. Wataniya Palestine increased customers by more than 10% and EBITDA was up significantly."

Review of Operations

The Group's operational performance can be summarized as follows:

Ooredoo - Kuwait

Ooredoo's customer base in Kuwait was 2.5 million at the end of 1H 2016, approximately in line with the same period in 2015. Revenues for 1H 2016 were KWD100.2 million, an increase of10% compared to 2015 of KWD91.3 million. EBITDA was KWD21.3 million versus EBITDA for 1H 2015 of KWD20.5 million, an increaseof4%. Net Profit was at KWD2.1 million compared to KWD4.5millionfor the same period in 2015.

Ooredoo - Tunisia

Ooredoo's Tunisia customer base was 7.6 million at the end of 1H2016, an increase of 4% on the same period in 2015.Tunisian economy still suffering from slow tourism and the KWD results are impacted by the depreciation of the Tunisian Dinar. Revenues for 1H 2016 were KWD69.5 million compared to revenues for the same period in 2015 of KWD75.5 million. EBITDA was KWD25.5 million compared to KWD33.9 million for the same period in 2015. The Net Attributable Profit to Ooredoo for 1H 2016 wasKWD1.0 million compared to KWD6.5 million for the same period in 2015.

Ooredoo - Algeria

Ooredoo's customer base in Algeria at the end of 1H of 2016 was 13.4 million customers, an increase of 1%compared with the same period in 2015. The Algerian Dinar depreciated significantly compared with the same period last year, impacting the results reported in KWD. Revenues for 1H 2016 were KWD152.9 million compared to revenues of KWD168.8 million for the same period in 2015. EBITDA for 1H 2016 was KWD57.4 million, a decrease of 5% on KWD60.5 million for the same period in 2015. The Net Attributable Profit to Ooredoo for 1H of 2016was KWD11.2 million compared to a Net Attributable Profit of KWD2.5 million for the same period in 2015.

Wataniya - Palestine

The total customer base for Wataniya Mobile Palestine at the end of 1H 2016 was 0.7 million, an increase of 11% from the same period of 2015. Revenues for 1H 2016 were KWD12.5 million, an increase of 4% compared to the revenues of KWD12.1million for the same period in 2015. EBITDA for 1H 2016was KWD3.9 million compared to an EBITDA of KWD1.7 million for the same period in 2015.. The Net Attributable Profit for 1H of 2016stood atKWD0.1 million compared to a Net Attributable Loss of KWD1.1 million for the same period in 2015.

Ooredoo - Maldives

Maldives total customer base at the end of 1H 2016 was 0.4 million, an increase of 14% from the same period of 2015. Revenues for 1H 2016 were KWD15.7 million, an increase of 38% compared to KWD11.4 million for the same period 2015. EBITDA for the 1H 2016 was KWD8.7 million, an increase of 61% compared to an EBITDA of KWD5.4 million. The Net Attributable Profit for 1H 2016 was KWD4.8 million compared to the Net Attributable Profit of KWD2.6 million for the same period in 2015.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Total customer base increased by 2% to 24.6 million at the close of 1H2016, versus 24 million for the same period in 2015.

• Revenues for 1H of 2016 stood at KWD350.8 million compared with KWD359.1 million for the same period in 2015, a decrease of 2%.

• EBITDA for 1H 2016 was KWD115.8 million compared to EBITDA of KWD120.9 million for the same period in 2015.

•  The Net Profit attributable to NMTC in 1H 2016 was KWD 19.3 million compared with a Net Attributable Profit of KWD 14.8 million for the same period in 2015. The increase was supported by good performances in Algeria and the Maldives.

• The consolidated Earnings per Share was 38.5 fils compared to 29.6 fils per share earned for the same period last year.

•  Ooredoo Kuwait (NMTC) acquisition of "FASTtelco", a Kuwait based ISP, to offer advanced fixed broadband and mobile services finalized in May 2016.