UAE's Etisalat Q2 net profit falls 19%

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Emirates Telecommunications Co (Etisalat) made a second-quarter net profit of AED2.41bn ($656.1m), according to Reuters calculations, down 19 percent from the year-earlier period.

The company made a net profit of AED4.59bn dirhams in the first half of the year, compared with AED5bn a year earlier, the firm said in a statement.

Reuters calculated the quarterly profit based on previous financial statements. Etisalat reported net profit attributable to shareholders of AED2.99bn in the second quarter of 2008 and 2.18 in the first quarter of this year.

Emirates Telecommunications Corporation is the second-largest Arab phone company, and better known in its UAE base as Etisalat. It is a name already familiar to millions across the region, and in the UAE alone the operator’s mobile subscriber base grew 14 percent in 2008 to 7.3 million.

Analysts had forecast on average that the second-quarter profit would be about 2.22 billion dirhams, in a Reuters survey earlier this month.

Earnings per share were 0.64 dirham in the first half versus 0.70 dirham a year earlier, the statement said, adding that last year's figure would be 0.58 dirham excluding income from the asset sale.

Revenues grew 10 percent in the first half to 14.74 billion dirhams versus 13.40 billion dirhams a year earlier while total assets stood at 67.24 billion at end-June 2009, up 7 percent.

Reuters calculated the quarterly profit based on previous financial statements. Etisalat reported net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.99 billion dirhams in the second quarter of 2008 and 2.18 in the first quarter of this year. (Reuters)

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