Batelco reported gross revenues of $214.4 million and net profit of $46.3 million, for the first quarter of 2011.
This was announced by the Chairman Shaikh Hamad Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa on Wednesday during Batelco Group board meeting held at Batelco’s Hamala Headquarters.
Batelco’s operations outside Bahrain contributed 37% of revenues and 27% of EBITDA in Q1 2011.
“Across the Batelco Group of companies we have grown our customer base to 9.8 million, a further 600,000 customers since Q4 FY10 and a 54% increase since this time last year. However, our Group operation continues to be affected by the expected losses in establishing and growing our Indian joint venture, S Tel, and the intensity of competition in Bahrain,” Shaikh Hamad said.
“Supporting the Kingdom of Bahrain’s 2030 vision remains a priority for Batelco and accordingly we continue to invest in infrastructure and in enhancing our mobile and fixed networks. We expect to complete within weeks a major upgrade of our mobile network expansion programme at an investment of BD14.5 million,” he added.
“Batelco’s Q1 results are consistent with market guidance,” said Peter Kaliaropoulos Batelco Group Chief Executive.
“Our gross revenue of BD80.81 million declined 4% against Q4 2010 whilst net revenues of BD63.07 million were flat, quarter-on-quarter. An increase in revenue by Umniah and QualityNet were offset by competition, regulation and the recent events in the Bahrain market. Our Operating Profit of BD23.27 million declined by 9.4% against Q4 2010 due to increases in operating expenses and staff costs. However our share of losses from our Indian joint venture, resulted in a Net Profit of BD17.46 million, a 16% drop versus Q4 FY10,” said Kaliaropoulos.
“We remain focused on cash management and our cash balance of BD65.88 million grew by 10% year on year. We remain debt free and in a sound position to raise funds for future expansion,” he added.
“Even though Batelco faces tough competition in every market it operates in, the Group has witnessed growth for both mobile and internet services across all their operations with few exceptions.
“Impressive performances from our overseas operations have grown the Group’s customer base to over 9.8 million. We are confident that we will cross the 10 million subscriber figure by the end of April 2011, just four months behind our original goal of end 2010, set out in 2005.”
“Thanks to customer confidence and top quality, competitively priced products and services, Batelco in Bahrain maintained 45.6% market share in mobiles with a total of 745,000 customer accounts, a decline of 3% versus Q4 FY10.”
In Yemen, Sabafon’s mobile subscriber base has grown to reach over 3.6 million customers while at S Tel in India, the subscriber base has swelled to 2.82 million at the end of Q1 FY11,” he said.
“Umniah in Jordan has grown its mobile customer base to reach 2.2 million subscribers.”
The Group CEO added that the Broadband subscriber base across the Group is also growing steadily with an increase of 21% YoY.
“Atheeb’s GO Brand for broadband and voice services in Saudi Arabia continues to make inroads and now delivers to over 116,000 customers, representing a 50% rise in their customer base over the course of the past year.”
“In our home market, whilst our Fixed Broadband numbers have declined by 15%, this has been offset with an 89% increase in our Mobile Broadband subscribers, balancing out to a modest 3% growth overall.”
“On the mobile side, our delivery of up to 21MB coupled with a choice of voice & data package options, provides our mobile broadband customers with a first rate service whilst on the go,” the Group CEO said.
He said that the Group’s growth strategy continues to be an area of priority.
“We were pleased to receive acceptance of the non-binding offer made in collaboration with Kingdom Holding Company to acquire 25% of Zain KSA, from the Board of Directors of Zain Kuwait and are proceeding with the process of due diligence. We remain optimistic for a positive outcome for the Kingdom-Batelco Consortium in due course,” he said.
“We anticipate tough challenges ahead in the Bahrain market. However, we have the experience and knowledge to retain market leadership by providing excellent customer care, a full range of services and better value every day of the year,” he added.