Technology & IT | Monday 22 October, 2018 5:10 am |

As a result of Mobily success in decreasing its quarterly losses, net losses for the first 9 months of 2018 showed a decrease in losses by 61.5%. Net losses for the first 9 months of 2018 amounted to SAR 202.9 million versus SAR 527.2 million in the first 9m of 2017.

Revenues of the first 9m in 2018 increased by 2.1% to SAR 8,703 million versus SAR 8,524 million for the same period last year. This has been achieved despite the market, regulatory and economic challenges, including:

 

(1) The reduction of mobile termination rates.

(2) The continuous adverse impact from releasing the ban on VoIP application on international calls revenue.

By taking out the impact of the decrease of the mobile interconnection rates, revenues would have grown by 2.7%

Gross profit increased by 4.5% to SAR 5,196 million for the first 9 months in 2018 versus SAR 4,970 million for the same period last year. This is mainly due to the reduction of cost of sales as a result of reduction mobile termination rates.

In addition, the company succeeded in the first 9 months of 2018 to raise EBITDA to reach SAR 3,190 million for the first 9 months of 2018 compared to SAR 2,734 million for the same period last year, an increase of 17%. This is reflecting the company efficiency in managing its operational expenses, the decrease in the general and administrative expenses and the reversal of certain provisions and the implementation of IFRS 15 and 9.

 

EBITDA margin for the first 9m in 2018 reached 36.6% versus 32.1% for the same period last year.

 

Furthermore, Mobily succeeded for the third consecutive quarter in reducing its losses, as Q3 2018 net losses reached SAR 30.9 million compared to SAR 174.4 million in Q3 2017 or a reduction by 82%.

 

Q3 2018 revenues witnessed a YoY growth of 6.1%: Q3 2018 revenues amounted to SAR 2,976 Million compared to SAR 2,805.7 Million in Q3 2017. This is mainly due to the improvement in consumer revenues, growth in FTTH sales and growth in business unit revenues driven by sales to government sectors.

 

This was achieved despite the market, regulatory and economic challenges including the reduction of mobile termination rates. By taking out the impact of the decrease of the mobile termination rates, quarterly revenues would have grown by 8.0%.

 

Additionally, Mobily succeeded to improving its EBITDA reaching SAR 1,088 million in Q3 2018 versus SAR 904 million in Q3 2017, or an increase of 20%. This is reflecting the company efficiency in managing its operational expenses, the decrease in the general and administrative expenses and the reclassification of SAR 84 million provision (built in Q1) from pre-EBITDA to post EBITDA, the reclassification did not affect the calculated net losses.

 

EBITDA margin reached 36.6% for Q3 2018 versus 32.2% for the same quarter last year.