Qtel reports record 2010 revenue of US$7.5 billion
Qatar Telecom (Qtel) announced that 2010 full year Group revenue increased 13.1% to end 2010 at QAR27.2 billion (US$7.47 billion), as the Group’s consolidated customer base reached 74.1 million (FY 2009: 60.4 million).
Distributable earnings for 2010 including profits from the Nawras IPO taken directly to retained earnings increased by 21.3% to QAR3.4 billion (US$927.5 million). Earnings per Share (EPS) for 2010 grew 2.2% to QAR 19.69.
As part of the Group’s diversification strategy, Qtel has maintained solid operational and financial progress, successfully balancing the management of competitive pressure to maintain market share in mature markets with the ongoing development of operations in growth markets.
Key highlights of the year include the roll-out of Fibre-to-the-Home in Qatar, the successful implementation of a value-driven strategy by Indosat in Indonesia, strong revenue growth in Algeria leading to a first annual net profit for Nedjma, the successful defence of market leadership position in Tunisia, the launch of fixed line and home broadband services by Nawras in Oman and continued subscriber growth for Asiacell in Iraq.
The Group also successfully launched IPOs in Oman and Palestine, saw strong support for a 10-year Bond for Indosat and for the Qtel Group’s bond sale, which was more than ten times oversubscribed.
Qatar Telecom (Qtel) provides a full range of telecommunications services in Qatar and across its presence in 17 countries. Our vision is to be among the top 20 telecommunications companies in the world by 2020 through expansion in both the MENA region and South East Asia.
Telkom SA 1H EPS falls 5.3%
South African telecommunications company Telkom’s normalized headline earnings per share from continuing operations decreased by 5.3% to 265.7 cents for the six months ended September.
Normalized basic earnings per share from continuing operations decreased 6.8% to 260.2 cents per share.
According to the company, revenue declined 5.4% to US$2.50 billion. Voice revenue decreased 19% to US$980.35 million and data revenue increased 15% to US$795.64. ADSL subscribers increased 16% to 699,368.
Telecom Egypt Q3 net profit down by 7.3%
State-owned Telecom Egypt revealed its Q3 results. As per the results net profit fell 7.3% to US$133 million from a year ago as seasonality hit the company’s retail business.
According to the company, the timing of Ramadan this year (coinciding with August) has had some effect on retail services. Earnings per share for the three months ended Sept. 30 stood at US$0.07 compared with US$0.08 in the year earlier period. The average revenue per user for the third quarter declined 12.5% to US$9.21.
According to Ahmed Adel, telecoms analysts at Naeem Holding in Cairo, third-quarter retail revenues suffered from Ramadan high promotional activities, and were down 5% quarter on quarter and 11.2% year on year. This is a reasonable decline, given the severe competition with cellular operators and challenge from mobile substitutions.
As per the company, nine-month net profit reached US$469.48 million, up 6% compared with the same period a year earlier, while revenue for the period rose 1% year on year to US$1.3 billion. Fixed-line subscribers reached 9.7 million by the end of September, the operator added.
C&W Communications result disheartens investors
Shares in Cable & Wireless Communications fell 13% after the telecommunications provider said declining tourist numbers in the Caribbean, its biggest market, had hit pre-tax profits.
The company’s sales increased 2.7% to US$1.16 billion, while its pre-tax profit declined by 4% to US$210 million. Earnings per share also declined to 3.3 cents facing a loss of 10.8%.
According to Tony Rice, chief executive, the company’s expectations for the full year remained unchanged, but the outlook was mixed for its divisions. The market situation varies from region to region and CWC’s first-half performance demonstrates the defensive and cash generative qualities of the group.
Mr Rice added that the Macao arm had been boosted by a 20% rise in visitors attracted by the casinos in the former Portuguese colony and the country’s double-digit economic growth. However, there was not much respite in the Caribbean, where the group makes about two-fifths of its sales. The company also reported a decline in revenues in Panama, another key market.
The company was created seven months ago after Cable and Wireless demerged to create C&W Communications and C&W Worldwide, which serves corporate and public sector customers. Analysts said C&W Communication’s results raised concerns about future cash flows of the company, which operates consumer telecoms businesses in 38 countries.
According to Steve Malcom at Evolution Securities, the most obvious issue for C&W Communications is that it generated negligible cash in the period and it has a very large dividend commitment. The gap between its cash flow and $210 million commitment raises significant doubts over its ability to maintain the dividend over the long term. The Panamanian business was particularly disappointing, reporting a 4% revenue miss and 7% EBITDA miss. Most damningly, C&W Communications generated just $16 million of cash flow in the period compared with their $59 million forecast.
40.8% rise in Etisalat’s Q4 net profit
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The fourth-quarter net profit of Emirates Telecommunications Corp., or Etisalat rose 40.8% year-on-year to 1.98 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($543 million). Full-year net profit rose 3.8% to AED8.836 billion from AED8.511 billion, while earnings per share for the year hit AED1.23 compared with AED1.18 in 2008.
According to Etisalat Chairman Mohammed Omran, these results highlight that Etisalat has followed the correct strategy by following a selective policy in our international investments and the company has been successful in reducing our operational expenditure, which further enhances our performance.
16% rise in Etisalat’s net profit
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With a rise of 16%, AED 8.83 billion net profit up from AED 8.51 billion in 2008 has been generated by UAE-based operator Etisalat in the year 2009. The profit also includes AED 892 million profits on the sale of shares in its Saudi unit Mobily.
5% increase in the net revenue rising to AED 30.8 billion and earnings per share to AED 1.23 from AED 1.18 in 2008 has also been recorded. The number of mobile users in the UAE exceeded 7.74 million lines in 2009, an increase of 6 percent against end-2008.
