Saudi's Mobily says second quarter net profit up 22 percent

Saudi’s Mobily says second quarter net profit up 22 percent

The firm, an affiliate of the United Arab Emirates' Etisalat , said it made a net profit of 1.421 billion riyals ($379 million) in the three months to June 30, up from 1.164 billion riyals in the year-earlier period.

July 16, 2012 11:00 by Reuters

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

The firm, an affiliate of the United Arab Emirates’ Etisalat , said it made a net profit of 1.421 billion riyals ($379 million) in the three months to June 30, up from 1.164 billion riyals 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 1.38 billion riyals.

Revenues for the second quarter amounted to 5.678 billion riyals, up 11 percent from the same period a year earlier. Operating income for the quarter increased by 20 percent to 1.468 billion riyals.

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.

(Reporting by Andrew Hammond and Asma Alsharif; Editing by Andrew Torchia)