Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Saudi Arabia’s second largest mobile operator by subscribers, has announced its financial results for the three months ended 30 September 2016, reporting a net loss of SAR167.7 million (USD42.13 million), marginally up from a net loss of SAR158.3 million in Q3 2015. According to a press release on the Saudi Stock Exchange’s (Tadawul’s) website, the negative development was mainly attributed to a decrease in gross profit by SAR284 million, which was partly offset by a decrease in operating expenses reflecting cost optimisation efforts and a decrease in Zakat provisions resulting from a non-recurring transaction.
In the three months to 30 September 2016 revenues decreased to SAR2.932 billion, down by 20.8% year-on-year, due to a lower subscriber base as a result of the government’s biometric registration process and a reduction in interconnection rates. CAPEX dropped to SAR344 million (from SAR685 million) in the twelve months under review, with the company highlighting that the development reflected a ‘continuous rationalisation of spending’. EBITDA for Q3 2016 amounted to SAR809.9 million, a 1.3% slump on an annualised basis, when compared to the SAR820.8 million reported in September 2015.