Kuwait-based telecoms group Zain has published its consolidated financial results for the nine months ended 30 September 2021, reporting a 3% decrease in revenues year-on-year to KWD1.1 billion (USD3.8 billion), while EBITDA decreased 3% annually to KWD478 million. The company booked a net profit of KWD135 million in the nine months under review, up 5% y-o-y.
Further, foreign currency translation impact – mainly due to currency devaluations in Sudan and Iraq – cost the group USD609 million in revenue and USD316 million in EBITDA. Zain Group invested USD665 million in CAPEX (18% of revenues), predominantly in expansion of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure, spectrum licence fees, 4G upgrades and 5G rollouts.
In operational terms, Zain Group reported a consolidated subscription base of 48.4 million at 30 September 2021. In Kuwait subscriptions decreased 11.5% y-o-y to 2.3 million, while the Saudi Arabian unit reported 7.5 million subscriptions (up 7.1% y-o-y). Zain Sudan’s subscription base stood at 16.4 million at 30 September 2021, up 2.5% y-o-y. Zain Iraq, meanwhile, saw its subscription base increase 5.1% y-o-y to serve 16.5 million at Q3 2021, while the subscription base in Jordan reached 3.7 million (3.5 million in 3Q20).
Mr. Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi, Zain Vice-Chairman and Group CEO, commented: ‘The operational performance that saw net profit growth over the 9M period, despite the huge impact of unavoidable currency devaluations, is testament to the successful implementation of the ‘4Sight’ strategy. I am extremely proud of the digital transformation achievements and network rollouts our teams have accomplished across our footprint, enabling us to continue in our mission to foster sustainable systemic change and provide meaningful connectivity in offering high-quality and appealing services to our customers.’