Du's Q2 net profit rises 51%

UAE telecoms carrier du on Wednesday said its second-quarter net profit rose 51 percent, but the results fell slightly short of analysts forecasts on increased costs.
     
The operator reported a second-quarter net profit after royalty of Dh207.2 million ($56.4 million), up from Dh137.4 million in the year-earlier period.     

Analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected the firm to post a quarterly profit of Dh209.9 million for the second quarter.      

Revenues for the quarter rose 28 percent to Dh2.17 billion, while cost of sales increased 25 percent to Dh719.3 million, du said in a bourse statement. Mobile revenue rose 32 percent to Dh1.66 billion in the second quarter compared to a year earlier.     

"More than a quarter of the growth in mobile revenue can be attributed to an increase  in ARPU (average revenue per user), driven by increased usage by our customers," said Chief Executive Osman Sultan in the statement.      

Data revenues gained 74 percent over the same period to provide 9 percent of mobile revenues. The carrier had 4.78 million mobile subscribers by quarter-end.     
Du shares closed at Dh3.19 on the Dubai bourse Tuesday.

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