Batelco announces strong Q3 financial results

Shaikh Hamad announced:

"Our operations in Bahrain and across the region by end of September 09, contributed to a turnover of BD256.2m ($679.5m), a 4.4% increase over the same period last year and our net profit grew by 1.5% to BD79.5m ($210.9m), equivalent to earnings per share of 55.2 fils."

"With the support of all our employees, we delivered sound financial results in Q3. We continue to lead the telecommunications industry in Bahrain and we are increasing our market share in the overseas markets we operate in," he said.

Batelco Group Chief Executive Officer Peter Kaliaropoulos stated that despite challenging economic conditions in most markets Batelco operates in, the Company continues to increase its customer base, improve customer service levels and has introduced many innovative new services and pricing plans.

"We remain focused on improving our operational performance whilst delivering better value to our customers," stated Mr Kaliaropoulos.

"For the first 9 months in 2009 our people across the Region contributed to growing our customer base and delivering BD79.5m ($210.9m) net profit. Our operating profit, year-to-date grew by a healthy 15% to BD83.4m ($221.2m) resulting into an EBITDA margin of 44.6%. As we have announced before, we are also investing in various start-up operations to capture future growth. Such investments, whilst dilutive in the short term, will create greater scale, improve efficiencies across the Group and create increased shareholder value from new ongoing business ventures," he added.

Mr. Kaliaropoulos said in keeping with the trend over the past year, growth has been realised both by the Bahrain and overseas operations.

Mr. Kaliaropoulos added, "We are very pleased with our performance in Bahrain over the last 9 months. Our operation in Bahrain has grown its gross revenues by 7.5% and despite significant competition in mobiles, broadband and data services and regulatory constraints, we are managing our expenses to deliver a 15% growth in operating profit."

"More importantly, our strategy remains focused on customers and innovation. We have redesigned our broadband packages which offer choices of 256 Kbps up to 10 Mbps. These are the most competitive broadband options in the Kingdom and play a crucial role in developing Bahrain's Economic vision for 2030," he said.

"Batelco's new unified high speed data roaming charges which are applicable in all GCC states and a number of major Arab countries are proving to be an invaluable advantage, particularly for our business customers. With a low rate of only 600 fils per megabyte for data roaming, our customers can benefit from substantial reductions in charges, as the previous rate was between BD5 and BD7 per megabyte!" added Mr. Kaliaropoulos.

Batelco's Freetime 2000 Plus mobile package, the first offering of its kind to be launched in the region, delivers the benefits of the internet world to our customers' mobiles with high speed and high capacity data download. Customers can now enjoy up to 3 GB download capacity with internet browsing speed of up to 14.4mbps!

Additionally, Batelco's recently launched Mobile Advertising initiative, the first service of it kind in the region, is showing very promising results.

"Mobile advertising is the new media channel that connects organisations directly to their target audience enabling customers to receive the type of information that interests them. More than 24,000 customers have participated until now," explained Mr. Kaliaropoulos.

Batelco is also playing its part in protecting the environment by being the first telecom in the Kingdom to launch e-billing. With 'Go-E, Save a Tree', Batelco's customers can access their bills at anytime online, as well as receive their monthly bill directly through their email account and select to stop their printed bills through the post.

"Our overseas investments also continue to meet our expectations. Approximately 30% of Batelco Group revenues are consolidated from overseas operations and 19% of operating profit is generated outside the Batelco Bahrain telecommunications operation," elaborated Mr Kaliaropoulos.

The Group's 96% owned subsidiary in Jordan, Umniah, continues to exceed targets and it has grown its mobile customer base to approximately 1.6 million.

Sabafon, in which the Group holds a 26.94% equity investment, has delivered solid growth in earnings and its mobile subscriber base increased to 2.5million customers.

Bahrain active mobile subscribers increased by 6% year-on-year, and the Bahrain customer base now comprises 779,000 customers.

"The Batelco Group active mobile subscriber base has grown by 21% since Q3 2008 and now exceeds 4.8 million," Mr Kaliaropoulos added.

"Our joint venture in partnership with Etihad Atheeb is off to a tremendous start in Quarter 3 with 41,000 customers signing up for broadband services in the first couple of months since the roll out of services began. Furthermore, we eagerly look forward to the launch of services in partnership with our newest overseas venture, S Tel in India, by year's end," highlighted Mr Kaliaropoulos.

Investing in our Community:

Batelco's Chairman Shaikh Hamad spoke about how important it is for companies to be responsible and contributing members of the communities in which they operate and stressed that Batelco can always be proud of its track record.

"We have already committed over BD2.7m this year and will finalise a number of other major donations before the end of 2009," he said.

Batelco wasted no time in rushing to support the Ministry of Health in their battle against the H1N1 pending epidemic by providing 550 Thermoflash Devices to be used in detecting the virus in students of all ages attending government and private schools all over the Kingdom.

"This year we have provided 22,000 Ramadan baskets containing popular food stuffs used in Ramadan for those most in need across the Kingdom. Batelco worked in tandem with the Kingdom's charity organisations to ensure the delivery of the baskets before the beginning of the Holy month of Ramadan," said Shaikh Hamad.

Partnering the Kingdom's Economical Success:

"Our strategic priorities will continue to focus on Bahrain as it is and will remain the centre of the Batelco Group's operations. We invest on an annual basis in order to support and manage the Kingdom's advanced communications network as it is an essential element in maintaining Bahrain's status as an investment hub and centre of choice in the region for international organisations to do business in," Batelco's Chief Executive Officer stated.

"We are proud that our investments in such advanced communications' networks have played a significant role in Bahrain being able to showcase global events such as Formula One. We are working closely with the TRA to ensure new regulatory policies to facilitate further investment in advanced infrastructure," he added.

"We believe Batelco has the right strategies in place at home and in the region to continue to grow the business. We are proud to be the most recognised Bahraini company in the region, respected for promoting Bahraini know-how to new markets. As a fully owned Bahraini company, we have a very loyal customer base and we thank them for choosing our products and services. With the support of our employees, we will continue to put their needs first in delivering the best quality, service and value we can offer," concluded Mr. Kaliaropoulos.