FINANCIAL NEWS

UAE’s Etisalat reports USD602m profit in Q3

24 Oct 2012

(MENAFN) UAE’s No.1 telecoms operator Etisalat reported a 28 percent increase in quarterly profits, helped by gains from a stake sale in Indonesia, Reuters reported.

The former monopoly said it earned USD602 million net profit during the third quarter, up from USD468.2 million a year earlier, while revenue was almost flat year-on-year at USD2.18 billion.

Etisalat said that USD117.04 million of the total third quarter profit came from selling a 9.1 percent stake in Indonesia’s PT XL Axiata. Etisalat currently owns 4.2 percent in Axiata.

The company, which operates in 15 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, said overseas operations reported 7 percent increase in quarterly revenues to USD653.24 million year-on-year.

Operating expenses during the July-September period fell 8 percent to USD1.31 billion, despite an increase in wages by 6 percent, on lower sales costs and lower depreciation and amortisation expenses.

Etisalat’s profit margins were hurt despite an 11 percent increase in domestic mobile subscribers to 7 million subscribers as of September 30, as the UAE’s large expatriate foreign workforce increasingly uses internet-based phone services, impacting its lucrative international call and text businesses.

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