Ooredoo Oman Q4 net profit jumps 10.8%

Ooredoo Oman, the sultanate’s No 2 telecom operator, reported a 10.8% increase in fourth-quarter net profit yesterday, its sixth rise in eight quarters. The firm, majority-owned by Qatar’s Ooredoo, made a net profit of 9.2mn rials ($23.90mn) in the three months to December 31, up from 8.3mn rials in the year-earlier period, it said in a bourse statement. Gulf Baader Capital Markets had forecast Ooredoo Oman would make a quarterly profit of 12.5mn rials. It had reported rising profits in five of the preceding seven quarters, Reuters data shows. Fourth-quarter revenue was 65.2mn rials. This compares with 60.5mn rials a year earlier. Ooredoo Oman, which ended Oman Telecommunication Co’s (Omantel) monopoly in 2005, made a profit of 41.6mn rials in 2015, up from 37.9mn rials in 2014.