DUBAI: Etisalat will cut its profits by Dh162m ($44m) because of the decision by Saudi Arabian affiliate Mobily to restate 18 months of earnings, the Abu Dhabi-based firm said yesterday.
The United Arab Emirates’ biggest telecommunications operator owns 27.5 percent of Mobily, which on Monday slashed its profits for 2013 and the first half of 2014 by a combined 1.43bn riyals ($381.2m), citing accounting errors.
The impact of this is to reduce Etisalat’s post-tax profit by Dh130m for 2013 and by Dh32m for the nine months to September 30 this year. Etisalat will account for these reductions in its earnings statement for the fourth quarter of this year, it said in a bourse statement.
Etisalat previously announced a net profit of Dh7.08bn in 2013, of which Mobily provided Dh1.18bn prior to its earnings shock. Serkan Okandan, Etisalat’s chief financial officer, was appointed deputy chief executive at Mobily in mid-October this year. He remains Etisalat’s finance head.
Reuters
