Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), a top telecom provider in Saudi Arabia, has posted net losses of SR202.9 million ($54 million) for the first nine months of 2018 versus SR527.2 million in the same period of 2017, marking a decrease of 61.5 per cent.

Revenues of the first nine months in 2018 increased by 2.1 per cent to SR8,703 million versus SR8,524 million for the same period last year. This has been achieved despite the market, regulatory and economic challenges, including:

(1) The reduction of mobile termination rates.

(2) The continuous adverse impact from releasing the ban on VoIP application on international calls revenue.

By taking out the impact of the decrease of the mobile interconnection rates, revenues would have grown by 2.7 per cent, a statement said.

Gross profit increased by 4.5 per cent to SR5,196 million for the first nine months in 2018 versus SR4,970 million for the same period last year. This is mainly due to the reduction of cost of sales as a result of reduction mobile termination rates.

In addition, the company succeeded in the first 9 months of 2018 to raise EBITDA to reach SR3,190 million for the first 9 months of 2018 compared to SR2,734 million for the same period last year, an increase of 17 per cent. This is reflecting the company efficiency in managing its operational expenses, the decrease in the general and administrative expenses and the reversal of certain provisions and the implementation of IFRS 15 and 9.

EBITDA margin for the first 9m in 2018 reached 36.6 per cent versus 32.1 per cent for the same period last year.

 Furthermore, Mobily succeeded for the third consecutive quarter in reducing its losses, as Q3 2018 net losses reached SR30.9 million compared to SR174.4 million in Q3 2017 or a reduction by 82 per cent.

Q3 2018 revenues witnessed a YoY growth of 6.1 per cent: Q3 2018 revenues amounted to SR2,976 million compared to SR2,805.7 million in Q3 2017. This is mainly due to the improvement in consumer revenues, growth in FTTH sales and growth in business unit revenues driven by sales to government sectors.

This was achieved despite the market, regulatory and economic challenges including the reduction of mobile termination rates. By taking out the impact of the decrease of the mobile termination rates, quarterly revenues would have grown by 8.0 per cent.

Additionally, Mobily succeeded to improving its EBITDA reaching SR1,088 million in Q3 2018 versus SR904 million in Q3 2017, or an increase of 20 per cent. This is reflecting the company efficiency in managing its operational expenses, the decrease in the general and administrative expenses and the reclassification of SR84 million provision (built in Q1) from pre-EBITDA to post EBITDA, the reclassification did not affect the calculated net losses.

EBITDA margin reached 36.6 per cent for Q3 2018 versus 32.2 per cent for the same quarter last year. – TradeArabia News Service