Zain Bahrain net profit up 24.3 per cent

10/02/2016 08:23 AST

Bahrain Bourse-listed Zain Bahrain yesterday reported an increase of 24.3 per cent in net profit at BD5.147 million ($13.616m) for the year ended December 31 when compared with BD4.142m in 2014.

In a statement the telecoms firm said this reflects earnings per share of 14 fils as against 13 fils per share in 2014.

Revenues totalled BD71.112m, a decrease of less than 1pc compared with BD71.804m recorded in the previous year.

The company said operating profit saw an increase of 6pc to BD28.311m when compared with BD26.697m earlier, reflecting an operating margin of 39.8pc. For the fourth quarter last year, Zain Bahrain’s net profit increased by 42.4pc to BD1.735m compared with BD1.218m reported for the same period in 2014.

At BD17.763m, revenues for the quarter reduced by less than 1pc from the same period in 2014 when they were BD17.782m.

Operating profit for the quarter increased by 5.4pc to BD7.297m compared with BD6.922m in 2014, reflecting an operating margin of 41.7pc.

The customer base saw a yearly growth to 795,000 active customers as of December 31. Zain Bahrain’s chairman Shaikh Ahmed bin Ali Al Khalifa said the substantial investment in the state-of-the-art 4G LTE network has resulted in a remarkable growth in LTE services users by 141pc.

“The rise in profits was marked by the continuous enhancements in operational efficiencies and strong positioning in data.”

He said revenue growth accelerated strongly through the second half of the year, a result of a concerted focus on driving the growth of the broadband sector through the offering of appealing data packages.

“We firmly believe that our strategy will lead to increased revenues and profits as well as improve cash flow, which in return will maximise the value for our shareholders,” said Shaikh Ahmed.

He said the last quarter witnessed the launch of a series of products and services in line with the company’s commitment to offer value-driven offerings to consumers.

Gulf Daily News