du posts record profit and revenue growth in 2025, lifts dividend to 64 fils

10/02/2026 04:33 AST

Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du) posted higher revenues, rising profitability, and its highest dividend on record when it reported its last set of financial results for 2025.

Full-year revenues rose 8.7 percent year on year to Dh15.9 billion, exceeding the company's guidance range. Net profit climbed 16.8 percent to a record Dh2.9 billion, supported by higher earnings and disciplined cost control.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 13.4 percent to Dh7.3 billion, while the EBITDA margin expanded to 46.1 percent, up 1.9 percentage points from 2024.

Record dividends
On the back of the performance and a strong balance sheet, du's board recommended a total dividend of 64 fils per share for 2025, including a final dividend of 40 fils for the second half of the year.

The payout represents an 18.5 percent increase year on year and a payout ratio of nearly 100 percent, marking the highest dividend in the company's history.

Fourth-quarter revenues rose 10.6 percent year on year to Dh4.3 billion, while Q4 net profit increased 23.8 percent to Dh724 million, reflecting sustained momentum into the final quarter.

Broad revenue growth
du said revenue growth was driven by its core mobile, fixed, and wholesale businesses, alongside rising contributions from digital services such as cloud, data centres, and ICT.

"Other revenues," which include ICT services, wholesale activity, and handset sales, increased 9 percent in 2025 to Dh4.5 billion, supported by data centre deployments and strong device demand.

Mobile revenues rose 8 percent to Dh7.1 billion during the year, driven by subscriber growth and a shift toward higher-value postpaid customers.

Subscribers to expand
The company's mobile subscriber base grew 8.8 percent year on year to 9.7 million by the end of 2025, with net additions of 788,000 over the year.

Postpaid customers increased 9.9 percent to 2.0 million, while prepaid subscribers grew 8.6 percent to 7.7 million, supported by premium offers, enterprise demand, and tourist activity.

Fixed-line subscribers rose 7.8 percent to 735,000, with net additions of 53,000, driven by demand for fibre broadband and home wireless services.

Investment support
Capital expenditure increased to Dh2.3 billion in 2025 as du stepped up investment in network upgrades, cloud infrastructure, and data centre capacity.

Capital intensity stood at 14.3 percent, reflecting the early stages of data centre expansion as part of the company's long-term diversification strategy.

Operating free cash flow rose 14.4 percent year on year to Dh5.1 billion, strengthening du's balance sheet and supporting both investment plans and higher shareholder returns.

Outlook stays positive
du said its outlook remains positive as it continues to scale digital platforms, expand cloud, AI, and data centre services, and deepen monetisation across its connectivity and digital infrastructure businesses.

The company said it remains focused on delivering sustainable growth while supporting the UAE's broader digital transformation agenda.<

Gulfnews