MTC profit surges 80pc

Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), the third-largest GCC telecom firm by market value, posted an 80 per cent rise in third-quarter net profit.

MTC said it achieved a profit of KD83.86 million ($290.1 million) in the third quarter, or equivalent to earnings per share of 68 fils, a company official said.

The average forecast in a recent survey of three analysts was for earnings growth of 87.3 per cent from the same period in 2005.

Kuwait’s second-largest company by market value said in a statement that it had a record nine-month net profit of KD223 million, up 63 per cent compared with last year.

Nine-month earnings per share hit 180 fils, up 29 per cent from 140 fils a year ago.

Revenues rose 114 per cent in the first nine months of 2006 to 849 million dinars.

‘The profits reflected the strong operational performance of the MTC Group companies,’ said chairman Assad Al Banwan, adding operating profits accounted for a large percentage of earnings.

‘MTC is reaping the fruits of its successful expansion strategy … of swift and studied growth in the markets of the Middle East and Africa,’ he said in the statement.

MTC made a net profit of KD46.49 million in the third quarter last year.

MTC and other Arab telecoms companies, buoyed by record earnings and oil revenues generated by their government shareholders, have been on a spending spree in the last 18 months, buying companies from Pakistan and Italy to Africa.

MTC paid $3.36 billion for Netherlands-based Celtel International which operates in sub-Saharan Africa.

‘This (profit) is all attributed to the expansion undertaken by the company in the region and in Africa when they bought Celtel,’ said Ahmad Al Quraishi, director of local investments at Bayan Investment.

On Oct 8, MTC chief executive Saad Al Barrak said the firm expected to double profit this year to a record KD375 million. MTC’s stock rose to record high three days later.

MTC will push on with efforts to maximise its revenues and profits by seeking promising investment opportunities in new markets, chairman Banwan said.

He said Saudi Arabia was currently a priority, adding that the Saudi telecommunications authority will start accepting bids as of January 20 for the country’s third mobile phone licence.

Barrak said in the statement that MTC, which has 25 million subscribers in 20 countries, was studying more than one opportunity in West Africa.

MTC ‘wants to increase its presence in the Western wing of the continent after it has boosted its presence in the eastern flank through the markets of Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Tanzania and Madagascar,’ Barrak added in the statement.

He said the company finished the third quarter with a big jump in the number of subscribers, up 100 percent from the same period in 2005. MTC’s compounded annual growth rate of users numbers has reached 137 per cent, he said.

MTC’s African unit Celtel is now covering 35 per cent of the continent through operations in 14 sub-Saharan African nations with a combined population of 400 million, Barrak said.

‘This indicates that high growth rates await the MTC Group operational activities,’ Barrak added.Reuters

Source- http://www.tradearabia.com