Batelco Group, a top telecom group based in Bahrain, has reported a net profit of BD40.9 million ($108.5 million) for the first nine months of the year, in line with the   corresponding period of 2014.

EBITDA for the period was BD106.9 million ($283.6 million) representing a margin of 38 per cent, compared to EBITDA of BD111.4 million ($295.5 million) and a 38 per cent margin for the corresponding period in 2014, a 4 per cent decrease year over year and 8 per cent improvement quarter on quarter.

The Group’s gross revenues for the period of BD279.6 million ($741.6 million), impacted by competitive pressures in key markets, are 4 per cent down from BD291.9 million ($774.3 million) for the same period in 2014. However, the third quarter gross revenues improved by 2 per cent over the previous quarter of 2015. Operating profit for the nine-months of 2015 was down by 9 per cent from BD61.9 million ($164.2 million) to BD56.5 million ($149.9 million) and improved by 17 per cent over Q2 2015 as a result of cost savings across the Group.

The Group’s balance sheet remains strong; as of 30 September 2015 net assets were valued at BD567 million ($1,504 million) with cash balances of BD141.2 million ($374.5 million). This includes the impact of the interim dividend (10 fils per share) announced and paid during the quarter. Earnings per share for the period stood at 24.6 fils.

Batelco Chairman, Shaikh Hamad Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, said: “We are pleased that our customer numbers continue to climb thanks to our reliable and value for money provisioning across the Group. Whilst our revenues continue to be impacted by competitive pressures, we have been able to maintain our bottom line profit due to cost containment measures across the Group.”

“We operate in very competitive markets; however we continue to be focussed on our efforts to pool resources, technologies and expertise as this has had a beneficial effect on our competitiveness and performance across the Group.”

Operational highlights

Batelco Group acting CEO Ihab Hinnawi stated: “Across the Group, Batelco’s overall subscriber numbers are up by 2 per cent year on year, with particularly strong input from the home market of Bahrain, which has seen a 10 per cent year-on-year increase in mobile subscribers. The growth in numbers is mainly attributable to the take up of mobile and broadband services due to the growing demand for data solutions.”

“Overall, Batelco’s overseas operations performed well and at the end of the nine month period, 58 per cent of revenues and 57 per cent of EBITDA were attributable to operations outside of Bahrain.”

“We operate in very diverse markets each with their unique needs. Accordingly, we are continuing to undertake significant investments depending on the various needs of our individual operations, for the benefit of the group as a whole,” he added.

Hinnawi continued by outlining the progress made in the Group’s home market of Bahrain where customer numbers for mobile services continue to increase steadily.

“The mobile subscriber base has increased by 10 per cent year-on-year with Batelco’s 4G LTE products and services playing a significant part in the growing numbers, due to the popularity of our bundled packages with the latest smart devices.”

“Batelco’s commitment to helping businesses achieve their aims is unwavering and in line with this we provide a full package of ICT solutions that goes well beyond basic telecoms services. Our sophisticated services can be customised to be the perfect fit for any business,” he said.

“Our provisioning of adjacent ICT services is possible thanks to strong partnerships with other leading service providers. Batelco’s efforts with one such partner, Palo Alto, led to us achieving Gold status in the Palo Alto Networks NextWave Programme during the past quarter, the first company in Bahrain to achieve this milestone.

“In another first in the Kingdom, Batelco as part of its efforts to empower businesses to digitise their processes and improve operational efficiencies announced the availability of Cloud-based services,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service