Etisalat announced solid growth in profit for 2013, off the back of revenue growth for the international operator group.

In a filing with the Abu Dhabi stock exchange, it said that for the twelve months it saw a profit attributable to shareholders of AED7.08 billion ($1.9 billion), up 5 per cent from AED6.74 billion, on revenue of AED38.85 billion, up 17.9 per cent from AED32. 95 billion.

The company provided little in the way of detail in the statement.

Reuters noted that the company was hit by impairment charges of AED1.37 billion, of which half related to loans from “related parties”.

Etisalat has been particularly active in telco M&A in recent months. It has reduced its holding in Malaysia’s XL Axiata, and is in the process of acquiring Maroc Telecom from Vivendi.

It has also been linked with deals to buy Tunisie Telecom and Airtel Sri Lanka, and its PTCL unit is involved in in-market consolidation in Pakistan.