DOHA: Ooredoo reported 43 percent decline in net profit attributable to its shareholders to QR501m for the first quarter ended March 2015 compared to QR887m in the corresponding quarter last year. Group’s profit was impacted by adverse currency movements primarily due to the depreciation of the Algerian Dinar and the Indonesian Rupiah.
Group’s revenue remained stable at QR8,037m in the first quarter of 2015 compared to QR8,103m same period last year. As of 31 March 2015, the group’s consolidated customer base stood at 111m agaist 97m in corresponding quarter 2014, representing year-on-year growth of 14 percent.
Group EBITDA stood at QR3,205m (Q1, 2014: QR3,378m) with EBITDA margin decreasing to 40 percent (Q1, 2014: 42 percent) due to the continued strategic investments across the business into broadband networks, customer acquisition and retention, service launches and customer experience.
“Our investment in broadband networks, which contribute to the changes happening in the world around us, continues to deliver value for our customers and our shareholders. The world’s information, content and business opportunities are increasingly digital. Ooredoo is helping to shape the development of future opportunity for consumers and businesses alike across its developing market economies,” said Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani, Chairman of Ooredoo. “Our results for the first quarter of 2015 demonstrate the diversity of Ooredoo’s services that has attracted an increasing number of customers,” he said.
“The first quarter of 2015 reflects the successful execution of our data-centric strategy. Customers have grown by 14 percent to 111 million and revenue continues to be driven by the appeal of our ultra-fast broad band networks as our customers increasingly demand fast and easy access to digital content, services and information. Our B2B strategy also continues to drive growth of customers and revenue, as we harness the value of creating business-focused communications services across our markets. Results have been strong in our home market, Qatar and in Oman,” said Dr Nasser Marafih, Group Chief Executive Officer of Ooredoo. “We are facing challenges in some of our markets including high levels of competition, adverse currency movements and the security situation in Iraq. However, we remain optimistic about the future potential of our strategy to generate long-term value.”
According to the company, Ooredoo’s strategy to become a data-centric business continued to make progress during the period. Customer and data revenue growth were all driven by Ooredoo’s investment in its broadband networks, data infrastructure, driving smart phone penetration and creating innovative new bundles and data offers for customers. Group data revenue increased to 30 percent of group revenue. The growth in data revenue reflects the growing adoption of data-based services, enabled by the pervasiveness of Ooredoo’s ultra-fast broadband networks. Ooredoo now has 4G deployed across five out of its nine markets, with Ooredoo Kuwait launching 4G+ in March 2015.
Algeria, Iraq, Qatar, the Maldives and Tunisia are all markets where Ooredoo is the market leader in data. Ooredoo is also rolling out service agreements with OTT players to drive and capture a growing share of data revenue in its markets.
