Qatar’s Ooredoo Q4 Net Profit Falls 36%

Qatari telecom operator Ooredoo posted a 36 per cent drop in fourth-quarter net profit on Tuesday as foreign exchange losses and start-up costs ahead of its Myanmar launch weighed.

The former monopoly, which operates in countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, made a profit of QAR510 million ($140.05 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, down from QAR790.9 million in the year-earlier period, it said in a statement.

Two analysts polled by Reuters forecast Ooredoo, which changed its name from Qatar Telecom in February 2013, would make a quarterly profit of between QAR547.2 million and QAR841.5 million.

Ooredoo’s full-year net profit for 2013 was QAR2.58 billion, down from a profit of QAR2.95 billion a year earlier.

Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), a key industry metric, was QAR14.6 billion last year, down six per cent on 2012.

Ooredoo’s EBITDA margin dropped to 43 per cent from 47 per cent over the same period.

The company said its EBITDA declined because of falling revenue at its Indonesian unit Indosat, Myanmar start-up costs, rebranding expenses and investments in improving its network in Kuwait. Indonesia’s rupiah fell 26 per cent against the dollar in 2013.

Last June, Ooredoo won one of two mobile licences on sale in Myanmar.

Fourth-quarter revenue was QAR8.37 billion. This compares with QAR8.64 billion a year ago.

Annual revenue rose 1.1 per cent to QAR33.9 billion.