Zain Group in a statement said its revenues reached $1.2 billion and net income $255 million at end of the first quarter of the year, the company in a statement said.
Zain Group generated consolidated revenues of $1.172 billion, reflecting a 1% increase over the same period of Q1, 2011. The net income has witnessed an increase of 2% year-on-year to reach $ 255.1 million.
The group’s consolidated EBITDA reached $ 542.5 million, up 2% over the same period of last year and reflecting an EBITDA Margin of 46.3%. The earnings per share reached $0.07.
“The local, regional and international markets continue to suffer from the global financial crisis, which imposes more challenges on the Group’s operations, yet in spite of this, Zain has managed to maintain encouraging growth rates during this difficult period. Due to network upgrades and expansion projects that the Group is continuously implementing in its operations, the company continues to attain solid financial results on all levels,” Asaad Al Banwan the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zain Group, said.
Al Banwan emphasized that the Group will continue to succeed by consistently looking to surpass the expectations of its customers and achieve the highest return on equity. The coming period is also set to witness new trends and developments within the Zain Group.
“While the Group adopted more stringent standards in the identification and definition of its active customers, and the reclassification of its customer base on the basis of the new rules, the company was still able to achieve good results in its markets. This is because the Group continues to benefit from the available growth opportunities, which is reflected in the size of its customer base that grew by 7% to reach 40.3 million active customers at the end of March 2012,” Zain Group CEO Nabeel Bin Salamah said.
Bin Salamah said that the investments the Group made in many of its markets during this period have greatly enhanced its competitive position.
“Our expansion and development projects in Iraq have helped us to deploy more of our operations in the northern regions of the country, and we have experienced great success at the operational level of our business in Iraq during this period.”
Bin Salamah emphasized that Zain Group owns and operates one of the most advanced mobile infrastructure networks in the sector in the region, and is well positioned to harness this strategic advantage to achieve even greater heights in the coming periods.