Dubai: Etisalat, beating analysts expectations, registered a 14.7 per cent rise in net profit for the first half to June helped by forex gains, lower financing cost and federal royalty.

The telecom major’s net profit for the six months to June jumped to Dh4.98 billion from Dh4.35 billion in the same period last year, it said in a statement on Wednesday. Revenues for the same period rose a tad to be at Dh26.178 billion as against Dh25.85 billion in the first half of last year.

“These are better than expected numbers. The forex gains, lower financing and royalty helped the bottom line even though top line was stable,” Tariq Qaqish, head of asset management at Al Mal Capital told Gulf News. “The company was able to eke out good numbers despite challenging conditions outside.”

In the second quarter to June 30, Etisalat posted a 51 per cent jump in net profit to be at Dh2.315 billion. Revenues rose by 2 per cent to be at Dh13.3 billion. Revenue growth was mainly attributed to domestic operations and Maroc Telecom Group and it was impacted by unfavourable exchange rate in Egypt and Pakistan, and aggressive price competition in certain markets, the company said.

However, the number of aggregate subcribers remained almost steady at 163 million. In the UAE, the active subscriber base grew to 12.1 million subcribers in the second quarter of 2016, representing a year on year growth of 7 per cent. The consolidated capital spending fell by 17 per cent to Dh1.8 million, contributing to 13 per cent of the revenues.

The company has proposed to pay a dividend of 40 fills for the first half of 2016. “The company has been able to provide comfortable dividend yield, and currently it is at 4 per cent,” Qaqish said.

Solid ground:

“The strong financial results in the second quarter provide a solid ground for further growth in the rest of the year ...our ability to keep pace with the latest technological innovations, and our constant investment in the development of our infrastructure and networks, we are fully ready to contribute to UAE’s vision 2021 and to meet the aspirations of Expo 2020,” chairman Mohamed Eissa al-Suwaidi said in a statement.

Etisalat has partnered with Expo 2020 for telecommunications and digital services partnership.

The partnerships with the Expo 2020 team and with Dubai Parks and Resorts, which were announced in this quarter, are initiatives in line with the company’s digital transformation strategy.