Du's 2020 capex surges 24% even as full-year net profit slides
09 February, 2021
Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company also called du, reported a 24.1 % annual upsurge in capital expenditure to Dh1.87 billion even while its full-year net earnings slid 16.7 % last year.
The UAE's second-biggest telecoms operator's net profit for the full fiscal year ending December 31 amounted to Dh1.4bn, the business said in an affirmation. Total revenue for the entire year decreased almost 11 % to Dh11.1bn.
“Our business design proved sturdy and resilient compared to a great many other industries,” Mohamed Al Hussaini, chairman of EITC, said.
“EITC has had the opportunity to navigate in a turbulent environment and ensure the efficient provision of telecommunication providers, vital to the economy and the city … EITC maintained a higher degree of profitability of the business and continued the deployment of its transformation strategies,” he added.
Du, though, continuing to invest in network improvements and expand its 5G roll out regardless of the market conditions this past year.
The telecom company's fourth-quarter net gain fell to Dh48m due to a one-off goodwill write-off of Dh137m in its broadcast business as Covid-19 changed content consumption patterns.
Net gain would reach Dh185m if this write-away was excluded, the business added.
Founded in 2005 since the UAE’s second qualified telecommunications provider, du is normally 50.12 % owned by Emirates Investment Authority, 10.06 % by Mubadala Investment Firm, and 19.7 percent by Emirates International Telecommunications, with the remainder of shares in public hands.
Telecom reported a 1 % quarterly upsurge in its mobile clients to 6.7 million as the fixed-line subscriber base grew to 236,000 within the last quarter.
“We continued our concentrate on implementing our home-based business model and different transformation initiatives to boost our efficiency and our capability to adapt to an evolving and dynamic environment,” Fahad Al Hassawi, acting leader of the business, said.
“EITC provides demonstrated tremendous resilience during this unprecedented year mainly because we successfully navigated the Covid-19-19 pandemic, while keeping our staff members safe, and our clients connected.”
Last month, the company increased the international ownership cap from 20 % to 49 % to attract more exterior investors.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com