UAE-based operator group Etisalat said it maintained a strong performance in 2015, despite the “global challenges facing the telecom sector”, as Ahmad Julfar, its CEO, stepped down from his role.
In a statement, the company said that Julfar resigned “for personal reasons”. Hatem Dowidar (pictured), Etisalat’s group COO (and a former long-term Vodafone Group exec) has been appointed to the CEO seat in an acting role.
“I will be working over the next three months with the board to further optimise the group structure,” Dowidar said.
For the full year, the company reported a 3.9 per cent drop in profit to AED8.27 billion ($2.25 billion), on revenue which increased 6.6 per cent to AED51.72 billion.
The revenue growth was attributed to a strong performance of its domestic operations, as well as the inclusion of a full year of Maroc Telecom numbers (eight months were included in 2014).
The profit was impacted by higher depreciation and amortisation expenses, foreign exchange losses compared with forex gains in the prior year, higher finance costs and royalty charges.
For Q4, profit of AED2.6 billion was up 10.3 per cent on revenue of AED12.7 billion, down 4 per cent. Q4 revenue was impacted by “one-off adjustments”, and on a like-for-like basis would have been flat (with a currency impact).
The company benefited from a 19 per cent decline in consolidated operating expenses during the period to AED8.2 billion, which was “mainly due to lower direct costs, lower staff cost, lower amortisation and other operating expenses”.
Etisalat said its subscriber base stood at 167 million as of 31 December 2015, which it said represented a net addition of 500,000 subscribers over the year.
Among the issues it noted was subscriber disconnections in Nigeria, in compliance with a regulatory mandated registration process, and a similar process in Pakistan.
Highlights for the twelve months included the acquisition of a licence in Ivory Coast and a renewal of its 3G licence in Niger; the sale of its 85 per cent stake in Zantel; and its inclusion in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
Eissa al-Suwaidi, chairman, said: “As we prepare to enter our fifth decade as a company, we remain in a strong position to realise the opportunities that will come with the digital transformation the world is undergoing”.
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