Following in the footsteps of the UAE’s financial and real estate sectors, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), owners of du and Virgin Mobile, has posted impressive performance for the year, underlining top-line growth, margin expansion and cost management.
With strong growth in both postpaid and fixed services, EITC’s full-year revenues for 2023 grew by 6.9 percent to AED13.64 billion ($3.71 billion) and net profit reached AED1.67 billion ($450 million), an increase of 36.8 percent year-on-year. That was reflected in the full-year EBITDA growth, which surged 12.8 percent to AED5.8 billion ($1.58 billion).
Fahad Al Hassawi, CEO, commented: “This year, du (launched 2007) delivered a historic financial performance, posting the highest revenues, gross margin and EBITDA in our company’s history driven by a strong performance in our core business combined with accelerating growth in our new business ventures and continued focus on operating efficiency and disciplined cost management.”
Operating free cash flow for the year was up substantially by 23.2 percent to AED3.6 billion ($1 billion), while Capex was stable at AED2.2 billion ($600 million). Capex during the year was focused on expansion of the 5G network, which now covers 98.5 percent of the population, deployment of fibre and the transformation of the existing IT and network infrastructure.
The Board has recommended increasing the full-year dividend to 34 fils per share, out of which 13 fils per share were already paid in August 2023 as an interim dividend.
Commenting on the company’s performance, Malek Sultan Al Malek, Chairman, said: “In 2023, the robust macroeconomic environment and our strong commercial momentum has enabled us to achieve significant milestones and excellent financial results.
“Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company stayed committed to its objective of driving positive changes in the digital and technological arena within the UAE. We also provided extensive support for government initiatives and policies aimed at accelerating economic and social development and enhancing the quality of life for the residents of the UAE.
“Our business remains highly cash generative while sustaining investments in our future growth and our balance sheet remains unleveraged and solid with AED5.7 billion in available liquidity.”
EITC’s mobile customer base grew 8.3 percent during the year to 8.6 million subscribers. Strong net-additions in the last quarter (456,000) were mainly driven by significant increase in prepaid customers benefitting from seasonality and promotional campaigns. The postpaid customer base also witnessed a 10.5 percent growth year-over-year to 1.6 million with 63,000 new additions in Q4.
Fixed customer base rose by 12.6 percent year-over-year to 604,000 subscribers, with 68,000 net additions.
‘Other revenues’ in Q4 increased by 14 percent to AED1,029 million, and 6.4 percent for the full year to AED3,757 million, driven by mobile handset sales and visitor roaming.
Speaking of the year ahead, Al Hassawi added: “In 2024, we aim to execute our strategy and continue building upon our strong financial performance, reinforcing our leadership in our core business through a differentiated digital-first approach, leveraging our platform for disruptive customer-centric innovation, and harnessing structural efficiencies across our operations while expanding our new business venture and enhancing our customer experience.”
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