ShareCustomer base up by 2% to reach almost 27 million
Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al-ThaniKUWAIT: National Mobile Telecommunications Company K.S.C.P "Ooredoo" announced yesterday its financial results for the nine months ended 30 September 2018:
Financial highlights:
* Consolidated customer base increased by 2 percent to reach 26.6 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, compared to 26.1 million for the same period in 2017.
* Revenue decreased by 4 percent to KD 502.4 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, compared to KD 522.6 million for the same period in 2017.
* EBITDA was KD 162.1 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, compared to KWD 197.6 million for the same period in 2017.
* Net profit attributable to NMTC was KD 16.2 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, compared to KD 34.8 million for the same period in 2017. The decrease was mainly caused by a lower Algerian contribution due to a weak economic environment, currency devaluation and price competition.
* The consolidated earnings per share was 32 fils for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, compared to 69 fils per share earned for the same period last year.
Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al-Thani, Chairman of the Board of Directors commented:
"Despite challenging market conditions, we continue to see strong demand for our cutting edge products and services, with customer numbers up 2 percent to 27 million for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2018. We are progressing further with our digital transformation strategy to enrich people's digital lives.
Financially, our results at a Group level were negatively impacted by margin compression in Kuwait and challenging economic conditions in Algeria. All our other operations showed healthy EBITDA levels.
Kuwait recorded a significant increase in revenue for the first nine-months of 2018 to KD 182 million, up 13 percent compared to the same period last year. Revenue growth was driven by customer additions and an increase in handset sales.
In Algeria, market conditions remain depressed with the devaluation of the Algerian Dinar and intense price competition putting pressure on revenue and EBITDA. However, in line with our data first strategy, we maintained our mobile data leadership in Algeria.
We made good progress in Tunisia, where we increased our customer base by 5 percent, while our continued focus on cost optimization helped deliver EBITDA improvement for the nine-month period.
In Palestine we are benefitting from the launch of our network in Gaza. Since the beginning of 2018, we have increased our customer base by 57 percent to 1.3 million. Consequently, revenue was up 19 percent, while EBITDA increased to KD 6 million for the same period.
Maldives performed well, with a 6 percent increase in revenue and a stable customer base of 430,000."
Review of Operations
The Group's operational performance can be summarized as follows:
Ooredoo - Kuwait
Ooredoo's customer base in Kuwait increased 2 percent to 2.3 million for the nine months period ended 30 September 2018, compared to the same period in 2017. Revenues for the nine month period were KD 181.7 million, an increase of 13 percent compared to KD 160.7 million for the same period in 2017. Higher handset sales led to an increase in revenue, while at the same time negatively impacting margins. EBITDA was KD 36.8 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, lower than KD 39.6 million for the same period in 2017.
Ooredoo - Tunisia
Ooredoo's customer base in Tunisia increased 5 percent to reach 8.8 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, compared to the same period in 2017. Revenues slightly decreased to KD 95.4 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, compared to KD 96.2 million for the same period in 2017. However, in local currency terms revenues were up by 6 percent. EBITDA was KD 39.5 million compared to KD 38.0 million for the same period in 2017.
Ooredoo - Algeria
Business in Algeria was negatively impacted by the devaluation of the Algerian Dinar, intense price competition and a weak economic environment. Customer numbers of Ooredoo Algeria declined by 3 percent to 13.8 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, compared with the same period in 2017. Revenues also decreased to KD 173.6 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, compared to KD 219.4 million for the same period in 2017. EBITDA was KD 66.3 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, down from KD 99.9 million for the same period in 2017.
Wataniya - Palestine
Wataniya Mobile made good progress in the first nine months of the year, with the launch of the 3G network in the West Bank in January 2018. Customer numbers increased by 57 percent to 1.3 million, benefiting from the Gaza launch in October 2017. Revenue increased to KD 23.0 million, up by 19 percent compared to KD 19.3 million for the same period in 2017. EBITDA increased to KD 5.8 million compared to KD 5.1 million for the same period in 2017.
Ooredoo - Maldives
Ooredoo Maldives reported a 6 percent increase in revenue for the nine months ended 30 September 2018 to KD 28.7 million, compared to KD 27.0 million for the same period in 2017. EBITDA was KD 14.4 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, compared to KD 15.1 million for the same period in 2017. Ooredoo Maldives now serves a total of 430k customers, representing a 1 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2017.
