Telecom Egypt has witnessed in it Q3 2018 very positive results. Consolidated revenue lands at EGP 17.4bn, a 32% hike YoY fueled by the inclining pace of data services (+45% YoY) and the contribution of the deal sealed with Bharti Airtel of EGP1.6bn.
Customer base continues to rise on all fronts. Mobile customers reached 3.6mn, adding c300k in Q3 2018 despite tax fees imposed in Q3 2018 on new SIMs. Fixed voice subscribers grew 10% YoY, while fixed broadband customers grew 29%.
Its EBITDA recorded EGP 5.3bn growing 36% YoY boosted by the revenue growth maintaining a healthy margin of 31%.
Operating profit grew 37% YoY absorbing the 49% YoY spike in depreciation and amortization.
Net Profit amounted to EGP 3.5bn, revoking the H1 2018 18% YoY decline to come in constant YoY, thanks to strong operational growth offsetting the 4x higher finance cost.
In-service CapEx to sales came in at 22% excluding Bharti deal revenue vs. 50% in 9M 2017.
Net Debt rose to EGP 12.5bn as of Q3 2018 as a result of CapEx spending and the acquisition of the MENA Cable. The latter was fully recovered in October 2018 after collecting the cash from the Bharti deal which reduced the net debt to EGP 10.8bn and the net debt/annualized EBITDA to 1.6x compared to 1.3x in FY 2017.
Ahmed El Beheiry, Group Chief Executive, commented, “We are proud to announce our Q3 2018 performance, which demonstrates two very important qualities of this organization: its exceptional execution ability and operational efficiency. In this quarter, we have been able to complete two large projects in a record time – the Bharti deal and the schools’ connectivity project. We have also reached a milestone of fundamental importance to our retail offering as WE launched its one-bill product including mobile, fixed voice and data services in a year from the brand’s introduction in the market. WE became the first truly integrated operator with its Indigo Plus offering.”
He added, “Our success in the quarter is crowned by being able to reverse the bottom line decline witnessed in H1 2018 to a constant net profit YoY in 9M 2018. Telecom Egypt’s top line growth is one of the highest in the telecom sector globally and we’ve been able to deliver a healthy EBITDA margin ahead of our guidance, offsetting the higher depreciation and amortization expenses and managing interest costs by restructuring our debt.”