Batelco posts Q3 profit of BD25.2m
Manama : Batelco Group yesterday announced results for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2017, reporting stable revenues with increases over the previous quarter and over Q3 2016.
For the nine-month period, Gross Revenues are up by 2 per cent year-on-year to BD277.6 million (US$736.3M) supported by improved revenues in the Bahrain operation, Umniah in Jordan and Dhiraagu in the Maldives. Gross Revenues also showed an improvement of 6pc over the previous quarter in 2017 and 7pc over Q3 2016.
EBITDA for the period was BD91.2M (US$241.9M), a 13pc decline year over year, 14pc quarter-on-quarter decline over Q2 2017 and 20pc quarter-on-quarter decline over Q3 2016. The drop in EBITDA is mainly attributed to restructuring costs incurred in Q3 2017. However, the Group continues to sustain a robust EBITDA margin of 33pc.
Nine-month Net Profit was BD25.2M (US$66.8M), a 22pc decline compared to the corresponding period in 2016 and quarter-on-quarter decline of 43pc compared to Q2 2017 and 37pc compared to Q3 2016. Net profits are mainly impacted by the lower EBITDA due to restructuring and the share of loss from the Group’s investment in Sabafon, Yemen due to the ongoing political unrest.
Net assets were valued at BD522.6M (US$1,386.2M) with cash balances of BD151.1M (US$400.8M). This includes the impact of the interim dividend (10 fils per share) announced and paid during the quarter. Earnings per share for the period stood at 15.2 fils.
Commenting on the results, Batelco Chairman Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said that Batelco’s operations are evolving and transforming to meet the challenges of the communications industry and to cope with the competitive environments throughout the Group’s locations.
“Overall subscriber numbers are up 7pc year-over-year and 1pc since Q2 2017. At the end of the nine-month period, 59pc of Revenues and 56pc of EBITDA were attributable to operations outside of Bahrain. This is compared with 59pc of Revenues and 55pc of EBITDA in the first nine months of 2016,” said Batelco Group Chief Executive Ihab Hinnawi.
“Across the Group a number of locations showed significant growth in their customer numbers with Dhiraagu Mobile subscribers up by 8pc versus the same period of 2016 and Broadband subscribers up by an impressive 46pc over the same timeframe. Sure Group has made pleasing gains, with their Fixed Line customer base up by 11pc YoY and Broadband subscribers up by 4pc. Umniah’s Broadband subscriber base is up by 33pc thanks to their advanced fixed Broadband network and state-of-the-art mobile network and also the introduction of superfast Fibre services,” he added.
Batelco Bahrain CEO Mohamed Bubshait stated that investment and strategic efforts have resulted in growing customer numbers across mobile, fixed and Broadband, which is very good news.
Looking Ahead, the Batelco Chairman said: “For the last quarter of the year, we will be focused on pushing forward with a new era of transformation, ensuring the right teams are in place to drive our multi-pronged strategy forward.”
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