Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du) posted a 19.8% increase in net profit for the first quarter of the year on the back of strong revenues.

Net earnings for the period reached AED 722 million ($196 million), representing a net profit margin of 18.8%, while revenues grew by 7.4% year-on-year to AED 3.8 billion.

EBITDA jumped by 15% to AED 1.8 billion, attributed to an improvement in the company’s revenue mix and efficient cost management, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 47.4%, up 3.1 percentage points.

“Our balance sheet remains robust supported by strong cash generation and the continuing normalisation of capital expenditures in our connectivity business, enabling us to strategically expand into high-potential growth areas,” said Fahad Al Hassawi, CEO.

The company’s mobile subscriber base rose by 5.5% to 9.1 million, with 475,000 new customers joining, while postpaid grew by 9.6% to 1.8 million customers. Du also recorded a 4.5% increase in its prepaid customers to 7.3 million.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)

seban.scaria@lseg.com