Nawras announces preliminary unaudited financial results for 2012

Operational Highlights:

• Nawras reported highest ever quarterly revenue in Q4 2012. Revenue grew by 1.2% to OR51.4m, for the fourth quarter, from OR50.8m for the same period last year. Growth was supported by fixed and mobile data and international voice revenue partially offset by drop in SMS.

Full year revenue was OR193.5m compared with OR196.9m of 2011 with a decline of 1.7%. The decline in revenue is primarily driven by a reduction in SMS and on net voice revenue, partially offset by growth in both mobile and fixed data revenues.

• EBITDA achieved in Q4 2012 was OR26.2m compared to OR26.8m in the same period last year. Year-to-date EBITDA declined by 8.2% to OR94.9m compared with OR103.4m in 2011. EBITDA for 2012 was affected by lower revenue as well as increase in cost of sales due to increased international minutes.
• Net profit for the fourth quarter was OR10.3m compared with OR11.9m for the same quarter in 2011, with a decline of 13.4%. The total net profit achieved for the year 2012 was OR37.0m compared to OR47.5m in 2011 with a decline of 22.1%. Net profit was affected by lower EBITDA as well as higher depreciation partially offset by lower interest cost. Higher depreciation was driven by increased investment in network modernisation while lower interest cost was due to decrease in outstanding debt.
• The fixed service customer base grew by nearly 62.9% to 44,261 in 2012 compared to 27,175 at the end of 2011. The mobile post-paid customer base developed by 3.4% to 179,182 compared with 173,274 customers in 2011. The mobile pre-paid customer base increased by 11.9% from 1,759,787 in 2011 to 1,969,586 in 2012.

Commenting on the results Sayyid Amjad Al Busaidi, Chairman of Nawras said, "Our focus in 2012 was on new customer-driven initiatives; delivering the technology to increase customer choice and to bring telecoms, media and data to a larger percentage of our population. We also made substantial investments in people training and development. Nawras has maintained its unwavering commitment to investing in the best available technology for the benefit of our customers. This is a cornerstone of the company's operational strategy and will continue into 2013 and beyond. Efforts to re-energise our focus on customer experience."

Also commenting CEO, Ross Cormack said, "It is pleasing to report that our customer numbers continued their upward trend in the year 2012, resulting in the best acquisition figures since 2010. We now have nearly 2.2 million customers, an increase of more than 11% on 2011. The comprehensive market research and analysis we did during 2012 has given us the ability to develop strategies for customer acquisition and retention, a key advantage in a market that is set to become much more competitive, and to focus even more on making our customer experience dynamic, pleasurable and different. Our Network Turbocharging programme began in August and we successfully introduced the latest technology in all base stations from Al Bustan to Musannah. This upgrade increased 3G+ capacity as well as offering doubled speeds and greater coverage. The upgraded network sends more broadband data across a much wider spectrum and faster to give a richer experience and higher quality service for all customers in these areas. The release of spectrum facilitated by TRA marked a major technological milestone in our history by facilitating the preparations for the introduction of 4G LTE, a major component in a project to boost our network to achieve higher levels of performance."

The Nawras Board of Directors will meet on the 20 February 2013 to review and approve 2012 audited financials.