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Ooredoo Kuwait's Q3 profit plunges 50pc [Emirates News Agency (WAM) (United Arab Emirates)](Emirates News Agency (WAM) (United Arab Emirates) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Telecom operator Ooredoo Kuwait's third-quarter net profit fell by nearly half as fierce competition took its toll. Ooredoo Kuwait has struggled in its home market following the 2008 launch of the country's third mobile operator, Viva, which aggressively cut prices to woo customers. The firm, 92 per cent owned by Qatar's Ooredoo, made a net profit of KD7.9 million ($27.3 million) in the three months to September 30, down from KD15.3 million in the same period a year before. An analyst at EFG Hermes had forecast it would make a quarterly profit of KD23.4 million. The company's net profit in the nine months to Sept. 30 fell 21 per cent to KD45.7 million. Its domestic profit for that period was KD5.4 million, down from KD12.7 million a year earlier, despite a 26 per cent increase in subscribers, while revenue fell KD15.6 per cent to KD125.1 million, indicating significantly weaker margins and lower spending per customer. In terms of mobile subscribers, it slipped to third position in Kuwait behind Viva - an affiliate of Saudi Telecom Company - in late 2013, according to No.1 player Zain. The competition has helped spark a sustained profit slide at Ooredoo Kuwait, formerly known as Wataniya, which also has operations in Algeria, Tunisia, the Maldives and the Palestinian Territories. It has reported a decline in profits in nine of the past 12 quarters, according to Reuters data. The company's Tunisian operations suffered this year, with nine-month profit attributable to Ooredoo Kuwait falling by nearly a third to 14.7 million dinars as revenue declined slightly. Algerian revenue rose 21.1 per cent to KD272.2 million in the first nine months of the year and its customer base expanded by a similar proportion, but foreign exchange losses meant the unit's profit attributable to the parent firm dropped by 13 per cent to KD24.5 million. (c) 2014 Emirates News Agency (WAM) Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |