UAE’s Etisalat posts 12.3% rise in Q2 profit

Emirates Telecommunications Group, also known as Etisalat, reported on Tuesday a 12.3 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit as it cut capital expenditure and added more subscribers.

Etisalat made a net profit of Dhs2.2bn ($599m) in the three months to June 30, it said in a bourse filing. That compared with Dhs1.95bn in the same period a year ago.

SICO Bahrain had forecast that Etisalat would make a quarterly net profit of Dhs2.3bn.

Etisalat, which operates in 16 countries, earned Dhs13.1bn in revenue in the second quarter, versus Dhs12.83bn in the prior-year period.

Consolidated capital spending fell 6 per cent to Dhs2.1bn. Operating expenses rose 1.9 per cent to Dhs8.37bn.

Etisalat subscribers were up 4 per cent year-on-year to 144 million but were flat when compared to this year’s first quarter.