Making a huge turnaround in its net profit, Vodafone Qatar reported strong financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2019. The first half results posted solid growth across all key indicators. The Company’s half-yearly net profit increased by 60 percent to QR78m, mainly driven by higher EBITDA.
Total revenue increased by 1 percent to QR1.06bn compared to the same period of last year, driven by growth in Postpaid subscribers and higher home broadband.
EBITDA for the period stood at QR358m representing an improvement of 26.2 percent year-on-year due to the higher revenue, continued effective cost management and the application of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 16. Consequently, EBITDA margin improved by 6.7 percentage points to reach 33.7 percent in H1 2019.
Excluding the one-off provision release benefit in H1 2018, underlying net profit more than doubled with a growth of 125 percent.
Abdulla Nasser Al Misnad, Chairman, Vodafone Qatar
Vodafone Qatar is now serving nearly 1.8m customers due to solid growth within the Postpaid segment led by Vodafone Qatar’s innovative products and exciting plans.
Commenting on the results, Vodafone Qatar’s Chairman, Abdulla Nasser Al Misnad, said, “Vodafone Qatar has delivered a strong financial performance over the past six months driven by our sixth consecutive quarter of net profit and quarterly year-on-year total revenue growth.
This is a clear indication that our strategy to turnaround the profitability of the company and to generate sustainable topline growth is working. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank the country’s authorities, our shareholders and valued customers for their consistent support to help drive these positive results.”
Rashid Fahad Al Naimi, Vodafone Qatar Managing Director added, “To help support the continuation of the current growth trajectory of the company, we will continue to make strategic capital investments in both our radio and fixed access networks and allocate a significant portion of our CAPEX towards our 5G network rollout.
Sheikh Hamad Al-Thani, CEO, Vodafone Qatar
I expect that these investments will yield positive results for our shareholders and valued customers alike over the upcoming quarters.”
Sheikh Hamad Abdulla Jassim Al Thani, CEO, Vodafone Qatar, commented: “We are proud to be the first operator in the country to make 5G products and services commercially available to our customers. We are well prepared to take advantage of the enormous growth opportunities that 5G will deliver. Beyond our investments in 5G technology, we are delighted that our fibre roll-out is ahead of schedule and now available in many areas across the country. ‘GigaHome’, Vodafone Qatar’s recently launched home broadband solution, powered by our GigaNet network including fibre and 5G, is a key driver of our strategy to grow within the residential segment.
Rashid Al Naimi, Managing Director, Vodafone Qatar
Furthermore, and an important aspect of our growth comes from our suite of expanding enterprise solutions including the Internet of Things, Cloud Services and Big Data. This expanding portfolio of advanced services and solutions will enable enterprises, of all sizes, throughout Qatar to meet their needs to optimise, automate and innovate in a digital world. We are very pleased with the progress we have made to date with regard to the execution of our Digital 2023 strategy and our vision to be people’s first choice in telecom and digital services.”
