Batelco Group Q1 profit Jumps 60pc to BD13.1m
Manama : Batelco, a regional telecommunications group with operations across 14 countries, yesterday announced a promising start to the year with strong improvement in its overall performance compared to the first quarter of 2017.
Net Profit of the Group jumped 60 per cent to BD13.1 Million (US$34.7m) from BD8.2m (US$21.8m) in the first quarter of 2017.
Earnings per share or EPS was 7.9 fils for the quarter compared to 4.9 fils in the year ago quarter.
Batelco’s operating Profit for the quarter was BD20.3m, up by 43pc from BD14.2m recorded in Q1 2017
Gross revenues rose by 11pc from BD89.7m (US$237.9m) reported in Q1 2017 to BD99.5m (US$263.9m) supported by strong performance at Batelco Bahrain and Umniah Jordan.
In Bahrain, revenues were boosted by improvements in mobile and broadband services and in Umniah revenues were up in all revenue streams with notable growth in adjacent services and fixed broadband.
Commenting on the results, Batelco Chairman, Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said, “Across our group of operations, we are working diligently on our strategic plans to provide reliable and future proof networks that meet the needs of each location, with their specific requirements.”
EBITDA for the first quarter of 2018 stands at BD36.6m (US$97.1m) compared to BD32.3m (US$85.7m) in Q1 2017, representing an increase of 13pc and EBITDA margin of 37pc.
Subscriber base increased to 9.3 million, an increase from 9.2 million recorded in the year ago quarter.
“Notable increases include growing customer numbers for Broadband products in Bahrain with numbers up by 4pc over Q4, 2017 and 27pc year-on-year. Umniah and Dhiraagu have also posted improved broadband numbers with both companies showing an increase of 13% over Q4, 2017 and year-on-year increases of 84pc and 65pc respectively,” Batelco Group CEO Ihab Hinnawi said.
For the period, 61pc of Revenues and 52pc of EBITDA was attributable to operations outside of Bahrain.
Batelco Bahrain CEO Mohamed Bubashait said that Batelco’s successful fibre delivery and comprehensive portfolio of digital products and services attributed to growing customer numbers in the Kingdom of Bahrain reflected by an increase of 7pc in fixed line customers and 27pc in Broadband numbers, year over year.
Looking ahead, Batelco Chairman Shaikh Mohamed said that the company is looking forward with enthusiasm towards the second qarter and “believe that our strategic plans for all operations will continue to deliver the desired results.”
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