Mobily achieved 21{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10} increase in net profit for the first quarter compared to last year’

Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) announces the consolidated financial results FOR 1Q 2012 (Three-month period)
1.Net income for 1Q 2012 amounted to SAR 1,207 million, as compared to SAR 998 million for the same period last year, with a growth of 21{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10} and a decline of 29{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10} over 4Q 2011 results of SAR 1,697 million.
2.Gross profit for 1Q 2012 amounted to SAR 2,613 million, as compared to SAR 2,289 million for the same period last year, with a growth of 14{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10}.
3.Operating income for 1Q 2012 amounted to SAR 1,254 million, as compared to SAR 1,054 million for the same period last year, with a growth of 19{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10}.
4.Earnings per share (EPS) for the 3-month period amounted to SAR 1.72, as compared to SAR 1.43 for the same period last year.
It should be noted that the results of the last quarter of the year are usually better than those of the first quarter of the year, as the fourth quarter coincides with the Hajj season and other year-end events. Thus, for the sake of a fair comparison, showing the evolution of the Companys financial performance, the results of the first quarter of 2012 should be compared with the same quarter of the previous year.
The revenue of the first quarter of this year amounted to SAR 5,009 million against SAR 4,484 million for the same quarter last year; an increase of 12{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10}. The increase in revenue is attributable to the higher revenue from voice services with the increase in the number of minutes of use, the continued increase in the number of postpaid subscribers and the increase in business sector revenue. Data revenue recorded an increase of 28{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10} during the first quarter of this year compared to the corresponding period of the previous year (23{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10} of the total revenue of the first quarter of the current year against 20{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10} for the same period of the previous year). The EBITDA margin amounted during the first quarter of this year to 36{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10} compared to 35{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10} for the same quarter last year Chairman of the Board of Directors, Engineer Abdulaziz Saleh Alsaghyir said that, despite the continued fierce competition in international calling rates and high costs of international networks access, the company registered a remarkable increase in net profit amounting to 21{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10} compared to the same quarter last year, adding that the EBITDA amounted during the first quarter of this year SAR 1,811 million compared to SAR 1,577 million for the same quarter last year; an increase of 15{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10}, which will enhance the Company’s ability to pay dividends. The Chairman indicated that the Board of Directors is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 to determine the amount of the initial dividends to be distributed for the first quarter of 2012.
Engineer Alsaghyir stated that the company will focus on partnerships and agreements to continue its growth over the medium-to-long term. He went on to say that for this purpose, the company launched the new generation of telecommunications services, known as Service Delivery Platform, which will enable the company to more rapidly implement new multimedia services collaborating with content publishers and service providers. The platform will allow the company to integrate with (OTT) content providers, and develop cloud-oriented services. Given the fact that data centers are the pillars of this service, the company is focusing on building state of the art certified data centers across the Kingdom. The company is also going to deploy, over the coming period, machine-to-machine services (M2M) that will be used in future smart grid metering and fleet tracking projects in the Kingdom. The Chairman continued to say that with consumers demanding content that is relevant to their location, language and culture, the company will be cooperating with major international partners to support the apps developer community in Saudi Arabia in order to encourage the development of Arabic language applications targeted at Saudi users. In collaboration with Etisalat, the company launched an offer allowing subscribers to use high speed Internet within the UAE and Egypt, while roaming on the Etisalats affiliates Networks (Etisalat UAE & Etisalat Egypt), at the local rates of Mobily, thus enhancing the loyalty of its subscribers
Engineer Alsaghyir indicated that as part of opening the door to more diverse revenue streams, the company will collaborate with Etihad Atheeb Telecom (GO) to provide fixed voice services to a number of commercial and residential complexes, which will be agreed upon in due course. This cooperation comes from the standpoint that the integration of the services of the two companies would meet the increasing requirements of the public and commercial sectors in light of the accelerated developments in Saudi Arabia. Such cooperation would enhance diversity in services, quality and speed of implementation.
Engineer Alsaghyir concluded that the company does not intend to enter into price war, but it will compete in innovation, which is a beneficial competition for both telecom companies and customers, as it allows customers to benefit from more sophisticated services and better prices.