Saudi’s Mobily Q2 net profit up 22%

Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Saudi Arabia’s second biggest telecommunications operator, posted a 22 per cent rise in second-quarter profit, marginally beating analysts’ forecasts, it said in a bourse statement.

The firm, an affiliate of the United Arab Emirates’ Etisalat , said it made a net profit of SAR1.421 billion ($379 million) in the three months to June 30, up from SAR1.164 billion in the year-earlier period.

Analysts polled by Reuters on average had forecast Mobily – which competes with the Gulf’s No.1 operator Saudi Telecom Co and Zain Saudi, part-owned by Kuwait’s Zain – would make a quarterly profit of SAR1.38 billion.

Revenues for the second quarter amounted to SAR5.678 billion, up 11 per cent from the same period a year earlier. Operating income for the quarter increased by 20 per cent to SAR1.468 billion.

Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating on Mobily to “buy” from “neutral” in June, citing a four-fold increase in its mobile broadband subscriber base last year.