Ooredoo’s net profit almost halved in the first three months of 2015, as adverse foreign exchange rates made an impact, while revenue and EBITDA also slid, but customer numbers increased on the back of strong growth in some key markets.
Qatar-based Ooredoo posted net profit of 501 million riyals (€123 million) in the January-March quarter, down 43% on the same period a year earlier.
The bottom line "was impacted by adverse currency movements primarily due to the depreciation of the Algerian
dinar and the Indonesian rupiah,& quot; the telco said in a statement on Tuesday.
Revenue was down by 1% to QAR8.04 billion (€1.97 billion) while EBITDA slipped by 5% to QAR3.21 billion, due to ongoing investments across the group in broadband networks, customer acquisition and retention, the launch of new services and efforts to improve the customer experience, Ooredoo said. Its EBITDA margin narrowed to 40% from 42%.
Customer acquisition moves seem to have paid off. The operator ended the quarter with 111 million subscribers, up 14% on-year, driven by additions in Indonesia, Myanmar and Algeria.
Indosat, Ooredoo’s operating unit in Indonesia, accounts for around 60% of its overall customer base, reporting 66.5 million customers at the end of March.
In Algeria, the telco posted customer growth of 27% to 12.6 million, while in Myanmar, its newest market, the operator ended the reporting period with 3.3 million customers, having launched services in August last year.
Earlier this week Ooredoo named Rene Meza as the new CEO of Ooredoo Myanmar. He joins the company from Vodacom Tanzania and replaces Ross Cormack.
Qatar contributed the largest share of group revenues at QAR1.99 billion, up 16%, while customers increased by 12% to 3.3 million.
"Results have been strong in our home market, Qatar and in Oman," said Ooredoo’s group CEO Nasser Marafih.
"We are facing challenges in some of our markets including high levels of competition, adverse currency movements and the security situation in Iraq," he added. "However, we remain optimistic about the future potential of our strategy to generate long-term value."
Ooredoo’s Asiacell operation in Iraq brought in revenues of QAR1.27 billion in Q1, down 22% on the year-ago quarter, while EBITDA slid by 33% to QAR538 million.
The operator increased its customer base by 4% to 11.2 million and in January launched a 3G service, which attracted more than 2 million customers during the quarter, Ooredoo said.
