Mobily's Q3 profit up 23%

Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) announced its consolidated interim financial results for the 9-month period ended Sept. 30. Its net profit amounted during the third quarter to SR 1.51 billion, compared to SR 1.22 billion for the corresponding quarter of the previous year, an increase of 23 percent, and compared to SR 1.42 billion for the previous quarter, an increase of 6 percent.
Gross profit amounted during Q3 to SR 2.99 billion, compared to SR 2.47 billion for the corresponding quarter of the previous year, an increase of 21 percent.
Operating profit amounted during Q3 to SR 1.57 billion, compared to SR 1.27 billion for the corresponding quarter of the previous year, an increase of 23 percent.
Net profit during the nine months amounted to SR 4.14 billion, compared to SR 3.39 billion for the same period of the previous year, an increase of 22 percent.
Earnings per share for the nine months amounted to SR 5.91, compared to SR 4.84 for the same period of the previous year.
Gross profit for the nine months amounted to SR 8.56 billion compared to SR 7.24 billion for the same period of the previous year, an increase of 18 percent.
Operating profit during the nine months was SR 4.29 billion against SR 3.55 billion for the same period of the previous year, an increase of 21 percent.
Revenues of the third quarter amounted to SR 6.18 billion compared to SR 4.64 billion for the corresponding quarter of the previous year, an increase of 33 percent, and compared to SR 5.68 billion for the previous quarter of the same year, an increase of 9 percent.
Mobily's Chairman Abdulaziz Saleh Alsaghyir said the increase in revenue was attributable to the increased revenues of data and business sectors and the increased sales of smart phones. Data revenues accounted for 26 percent of the company's total revenue for the nine months.
The business revenues increased during the nine months by 64 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. Also, post-paid revenues increased by 15 percent for the nine-month period, compared to the same period of the previous year. The EBITDA amounted to SR 6.05 billion during the nine months compared to SR 5.15 billion for the same period of the previous year, an increase of 17 percent (SR 2.20 billion for the third quarter compared to SR 1.81 billion for the corresponding quarter of the previous year, and compared to SR 2.04 billion for the previous quarter).
Alsaghyir added that the prosperous economy of the Kingdom and growing government spending on projects, have led to increased business activities, something which improved the business sector revenues. Consequently, Mobily will be focusing on the business, information and communications technology (ICT), and data (fixed and mobile) sectors, besides focusing on clinching partnership agreements with international companies.
Mobily's board of directors, at its meeting held on Sept. 18, approved the distribution of an initial dividends for the third quarter (three-month period) of the year 2012 amounting to SR 700 million, at the rate of SR 1.00 per share.