Orascom Telecom Group First Half Profits Down on Pakistan Losses

­Egypt based Orascom Telecom has reported first-half revenues down by 2.3% over the previous year at US$2.48 billion, which the company put down to currency devaluations in key operations. Net income for the period was down at US$ 184 million from US$276 million a year ago. The sharp decline was mainly impacted by unrealised foreign exchange losses and hedge losses in Pakistan for a total of approximately US $65 million.

The weak performance recorded in Q1 2009 was however, completely offset by a 56% increase in net income in the second quarter.

The Group EBITDA margin was 44.3%

Total subscribers exceeded 84 million, an increase of 8.7% over June 2008.

Naguib Sawiris, Chairman and CEO of OTH, commented on the results: "The first half of 2009 was characterised by a weak first quarter followed by a stronger Q2; nevertheless the economic environment in which we are operating is still challenging and we see only timid signals of economic growth returning. In this context we are satisfied that our performance to date this year is in line with our forecasts, which predict a slower growth than in the same period of 2008.

In the first half of 2009 OTH grew its subscriber base by 8.7% over the previous year driven by the customer base growth in Egypt, up 31%, Bangladesh, up 17%, and Tunisia, which grew 13%.

Q2 performance improved quite significantly over the previous quarter in all subsidiaries. Q2 growth was particularly strong in Egypt, Tunisia and Bangladesh as was the performance recorded in Telecel Globe and koryolink. In Pakistan the political and economic situation remains complex although the revenue performance of Mobilink in the second quarter has improved over Q1 as a result of strong subscriber growth coupled with stable ARPU.

Posted to the site on 25th August 2009