Batelco Group posts net profit of BD40.9 million
Batelco Group, the international telecommunications group with operations across 14 countries, yesterday announced its results for the nine-month period ended September 30. The Group’s customer base continues to grow steadily and net profits are in line with the same period in 2014.
For the nine-month period, the Group reported net profit ofBD40.9million(US$108.5m), in line with the corresponding period of 2014, and 1pc increase since last quarter.
EBITDA was BD106.9m (US$283.6m) representing a margin of 38pc, compared to EBITDA of BD111.4m (US$295.5m) and a 38pc margin for the corresponding period in 2014, a 4pc decrease year- over-year and 8pc improvement quarter-on-quarter.
Gross revenues for the period of BD279.6m (US$741.6m), impacted by competitive pressures in key markets, 4pc down from BD291.9m (US$774.3m) for the same period in 2014.
However, the third quarter gross revenues improved by 2pc over the previous quarter of 2015.
Operating profit for the nine- months of 2015 was down by 9pc from BD61.9m (US$164.2m) to BD56.5m (US$149.9m) and improved by 17pc over Q2 2015 as a result of cost savings across the Group.
The Group’s balance sheet remains strong; as of September 30, 2015, net assets were valued at BD567.0m (US$1,504.0m) with cash balances of BD141.2m (US$374.5m).
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 24.6 fils.
Batelco Chairman Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, said, “We operate in very competitive markets; however we continue to be focussed on our efforts to pool resources, technologies and expertise as this has had a beneficial effect on our competitiveness and performance across the Group.”
Batelco Group A/CEO Ihab Hinnawi stated, “Batelco’s overall subscriber numbers are up by 2pc year on year, with particularly strong input from the home market of Bahrain, which has seen a 10pc year- on-year increase in mobile subscribers. The growth in numbers is mainly attributable to the take up of mobile and broadband services due to the growing demand for data solutions.”
Hinnawi continued by outlining the progress made in the Group’s home market of Bahrain where customer numbers for mobile services continue to increase steadily.
“The mobile subscriber base hasincreasedby10pcyear-on- year with Batelco’s 4G LTE products and services playing a significant part in the growing numbers,” he added.
Photo Caption:
Batelco Group A/CEO Ihab Hinnawi and Batelco Chairman Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla Al Khalifa
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