UAE telecom operator e& registered a 10.2% decline in its consolidated net profit to $595.5 million (AED 2.2 billion) for the first quarter of 2023, its financial results showed Wednesday, dragged down by lower revenues.
The first-quarter profit came in lower than the $662.8 million (AED 2.4 billion) e& recorded for the same period a year ago. Consolidated revenues reached $3.5 billion (AED 13 billion), a decline of 2.5% from $3.6 billion (AED 13.3 billion) reported for the
same quarter a year earlier. However, at constant exchange rates, revenue increased by 6.6% year-on-year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) fell 9.1% to $1.7 billion (AED 6.2 billion) in the first three months of 2023, compared to $1.9 billion (AED 6.8 billion) for the year-ago period.
In the UAE, etisalat by e& recorded 13.9 million subscribers, an increase of 6% compared to the same period last year. The group’s aggregate subscribers reached 164 million, a year-on-year increase of 3%. Crucial quote "The Group’s performance in the first quarter indicates growth in the number of subscribers, revenues, and profits in local currencies, but was impacted by the strong fluctuations in the currency exchange rate within the Egyptian and Pakistani markets," Hatem Dowidar, group CEO of e&, said in the statement.
In April, e& signed a binding agreement with Uber Technologies and its subsidiary Careem to acquire a majority stake in Careem's Super App spinout with an investment of $400 million as part of the group's plan to grow its digital consumer offering.
e& also finalized the takeover of ServiceMarket to expand the range of digital services on the Smiles online marketplace and provide more everyday services to its customers.
The telecom operator also took further steps in using advanced technologies by partnering with E-Space to develop satellite-based cloud-native digital and IoT solutions optimized with edge AI to maximize the value of borderless smart connectivity and digital solutions across all applications.
The UAE group has also joined forces with Intel to focus on deploying edge data centers with a focus on a net zero carbon footprint, deploying the latest fourth-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors.
e& also unveiled plans to integrate Microsoft Azure OpenAI GPT into its internal operations and processes, as well as a potential service to improve the customer experience and support the media industry in its daily tasks.
Last February, e& increased its stake in the British telecommunications firm Vodafone to 14%, saying its rationale was unchanged from May 2022 when it bought a 9.8% stake in the company.
