Kuwait: Mahmood Rafique, Editor: Zain Group, reported consolidated revenue of KD 1.2 billion (USD 3.9 billion), down 2% Y-o-Y.
Zain Group announced it’s consolidated financial results for the third-quarter (Q3) and nine-month periods (9months) ended 30 September, 2020. The company ended the period with a stable customer base of 48.9 million customers.
For nine months Zain Group generated consolidated revenue of KD 1.2 billion (USD 3.9 billion), down 2% Y-o-Y, while consolidated EBITDA for the period reached KD 502 million (USD 1.6 billion), down 7% Y-o-Y, reflecting a healthy EBITDA margin of 42%. Consolidated net income amounted to KD 132 million (USD 429 million), reflecting a 14% Y-o-Y decrease. Earnings per share amounted to 30 fils (USD 0.10) for the nine-month period.
“The Board is working closely with management in overcoming the impact of COVID19 across our footprint with a particular focus on expanding 4G and 5G networks and at the same time seeking new lucrative opportunities in the ICT sector to drive revenue growth. I would like to thank the government ministries and regulatory authorities across our markets for their collaboration with the telecom sector during these unique times,” Ahmed Al Tahous, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zain Group, said.
“The telecom sector is not immune to the current pandemic facing the global community that will continue to play havoc across all aspects of socio-economic life for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, we continue our resolve and commitment to ensuring meaningful connectivity and implementing more digitalization initiatives to better serve businesses, governments, and societies, aiming to lessen the impact of COVID19 on society,” Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi, Zain Vice-Chairman and Group CEO, said.
“Zain personnel have remained at the forefront of this mission of providing vital telecommunication services and business continuity as the business fundamentals of Zain remain strong. Our decisive efficiency drive succeeded in reducing operational expenses by USD 130 million since the start of the pandemic. Moreover, we believe the worst of the pandemic on our financials is behind us, given the healthy turnaround specifically in our Q3 2020 performance that saw revenue up 9% and net profit up 33%, when compared to Q2 2020, which was then a peak time of the pandemic.”
“Over the last nine-months we have invested USD 923 million in CAPEX including spectrum fees, expanding 5G networks in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and most recently Bahrain as well as upgrading and expanding our 4G networks and FTTH services across our footprint. Such investments allow us to wisely monetize the networks and offer more innovative customer focused and B2B services to government, business, IoT, and smart city sectors. Moreover, our Group API platform continues to grow exponentially offering rich entertainment content and gaming, and we are making profitable progress in various fintech and e-health services. These initiatives are proven instrumental in countering the negative impact of the crisis to some extent with data revenue growing 9% Y-o-Y and now representing 41% of total revenue.”
Zain Bahrain generated revenue of $123 million for nine months of 2020. EBITDA for the period amounted to $ 42 million, reflecting an EBITDA margin of 34%. Net income amounted to $10 million.
