Etisalat profit grows by 5 per cent

Abu Dhabi: Etisalat announced yesterday its third quarter profit climbed by 5 per cent to Dh2.25 billion compared with last year.

Profit for the first nine months declined by 4.7 per cent to Dh6.9 billion, though, as last year’s figure included Dh892-million profit from the sale of the company’s stake in Saudi Arabia’s Mobily.

According to a company statement, mobile phone subscribers in the UAE reached 7.44 million at the end of September, meaning the company added 180,000 new subscribers since June. Etisalat recorded a loss of almost 80,000 subscribers in the second quarter, the first time the company had ever suffered a decline.

“More competitive offers have helped pull them back in the local market,” said Matthew Reed, senior analyst for Informa Telecoms and Media, a London-based industry consultancy.

Etisalat’s results came on the same day the company said it had “no immediate plan to issue bonds” in a statement to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. Last week, a Reuters report cited the company’s chief financial officer as saying the company planned to issue $500 million (Dh1.8 billion) in bonds to finance its international expansion.

“The plan is to have the bond programme ready by the end of November and for issuance to take place either at the end of this year or early next year,” etisalat CFO Salem Al Sharhan told Gulf News. “But our financing needs will determine whether or not we make the decision. That decision has not been made yet.”

Etisalat yesterday announced it had completed the acquisition of Sri Lanka’s second-largest mobile operator, Tigo, for $207 million (Dh762 million). The company is also vying for a two-in-one mobile and land networks operation licence in Libya, the country with the highest mobile penetration rate in Africa at more than 100 per cent.