Batelco Q113 net profit down 17%

Batelco reported a 17 per cent fall in its first quarter profits as the company was hurt by increased competition in its home market.

Revenues also fell, by nine per cent to BD71.0 million (US$188.3 million). Net profits came in at BD13.4 million (US$35.5 million).

There has however been a further diversification of Group revenues with 42 per cent of revenues and 39 per cent of EBITDA now sourced from markets outside Bahrain, and this trend is continuing with the recent acquisition of Cable & Wireless Communications’ (CWC) Monaco & Islands businesses.

For the period, Batelco grew its subscribers to 7.9 million across its six existing markets, a rise of 15 per cent year-on-year and one per cent quarter-on-quarter. This reflected continued growth in mobile and broadband across key overseas markets. Mobile subscriber numbers grew 13 per cent year-on- year and this increase was largely attributed to customer growth in Jordan and Yemen.

It also reflects the success of on-going efforts in Bahrain to maintain customer loyalty and numbers. Similarly, positive results were also achieved in broadband where customer numbers for the quarter increased by 76 per cent year-on-year.