(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The UAE-based telecom giant Etisalat's 2017 profits marginally inched up to Dh8.444 billion as against Dh8.421 billion in the previous year.
The UAE's largest telecom operator saw its overall revenues for 2017 falling by 1.33 per cent - or Dh700 million - to Dh51.666 billion as compared to Dh52.36 billion in the previous year.
Its annual operating profits also fell to Dh11.4 billion as against Dh12 billion in the previous year.
The company, which operates in 17 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, attributed the decline in revenues to the impact of unfavourable exchange rate movements in Egyptian pound against the UAE dirham.
But Etisalat's UAE revenues increased year-on-year by 2.8 per cent as a result of growth in the subscriber base in the mobile postpaid and eLife segments, higher demand for mobile and fixed data services, and increased offering of business solutions, digital and ICT services. Its total assets, however, increased to Dh128.2 billion from Dh122.5 billion in the previous year. Etisalat's fourth-quarter 2017 net profits fell nearly 12 per cent to Dh1.97 billion from Dh2.24 billion for Q4 2016. Etisalat's stocks closed unchanged at Dh17.40 on Wednesday, with 692,219 shares changing hands worth Dh12 million.
Mohamed Al Hajj, strategist at EFG Hermes Research, recently said in an interview that the telecom major's stocks could be dropped out of MSCI UAE index because the provider of equity indexes is currently consulting whether stocks that don't offer voting rights to all shareholders including foreigners should be part of index or not.
Al Hajj said he won't be surprised Etisalat acting pre-emptively If MSCI decides to take punitive action against companies for not allowing foreigners the right to vote. Earlier this week, Etisalat launched a new initiative - Hello Business Hub - whereby setting up a business became easier under one roof. The initiative offers easy access to all official procedures and services needed to kick start business operations under a single roof.
In order to stay ahead of competition, it launched "Open Innovation Center" in December in Dubai, which will help to drive digital transformation by enabling the use of the latest technologies such as Internet of Things and cloud solutions. -
MENAFN1502201800490000ID1096467774
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.