RIYADH: Zain Saudi Arabia on Wednesday reported its first ever quarterly net profit, driven by revenue growth and optimisation of its operational cost structure. The telecom operator posted a net profit of SR45 million for the three months to March 31, its first since launching services in 2008 amid strong competition against better-resourced rivals Saudi Telecom Co (STC) and Etihad Etisalat (Mobily).
Zain Saudi, 37 percent owned by Kuwait’s Zain, saw Q1 revenues of SR1.9 billion, up 9 percent on the year-earlier period, it said in a statement. Prince Naif bin Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer, chairman of Zain, said: “Despite the massive challenges we faced in a very competitive market, I am pleased to see the company reporting positive financial results and the first quarterly net profit ever. “The results reported this quarter are attributed to the ongoing focus to the improvement of the company’s operations and the positive effect of the licence extension by an additional 15 years.”
Peter Kaliaropoulos, CEO of Zain Saudi Arabia, added: “We are focusing on increasing the ‘share of wallet’ from our customer base, reducing churn and implementing disciplined operational efficiencies to reduce expenditure. “We will continue to face significant market challenges in 2017, especially since the market contracted by 4.9 million subscribers in 2016. However, we remain cautiously confident and clearly focused on our strategic priorities and strive to continually improve all aspects of our operations.”
