Eurozone tries to avoid another Greek crisis Page 23 Business China’s huge debt poses major headache for CB TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2017 Page 25 KAMCO real estate fund wins award Qatar Airways awarded for content innovation Page 26 Page 22 LILLE, France: This file photo taken on January 11, 2017 shows people shop in Lille during France’s annual winter sales period.Winter sales in France, which end today have been disappointing, experts say, due in particular to the increase of private sales. — AFP Ooredoo Kuwait net profit up by 75% y-o-y Customer base grows by 6% to 25 million • Dividend of 85 fils recommended KUWAIT: National Mobile Telecommuni- its position as a leading ICT company with the Tunisian economy is still suffering from slow significantly compared with the same period KD 25.4 million, an increase of 2 percent com- cations Company KSCP: NMTC (Ooredoo), a acquisition of “FASTtelco”, a Kuwait based ISP, tourism and the KD results were impacted by last year, impacting the results reported in KD. pared to KD 25.1 million for the same period in member of Ooredoo Group, announced yes- through which it can expand its offer of the depreciation of the Tunisian Dinar. Revenues for 2016 were KD 309.8 million com- 2015. EBITDA for 2016 was KD 6.6 million com- terday its financial results for the year 2016: advanced fixed broadband and mobile services. Revenues for 2016 were KD 142.3 million com- pared to revenues of KD 332.5 million for the pared to an EBITDA of KD 6.5 million for 2015. Ooredoo Kuwait delivered a 5 percent increase pared to revenues for the same period in 2015 same period in 2015. Revenue in Algerian Financial Highlights in Revenues and maintained a healthy EBITDA of KD 149.0 million. However, in local currency dinar terms increased slightly (+1 percent). Ooredoo - Maldives * Total customer base increased by 6 per- of KD 51 million. A significant development for terms revenue increased by 4 percent. EBITDA EBITDA for 2016 was KD 108.5 million, a At the end of 2016 Maldives total customer cent to 25.2 million in 2016, compared to 23.8 the year, Ooredoo Kuwait deployed more LTE million in 2015. sites and by the end of 2016 it had successfully * Revenues for 2016 stood at KD 706.8 mil- covered the entire populated area of Kuwait. In lion, compared with KD 718.4 million for the Algeria the 6 percent growth in our customer same period in 2015, a decrease of 2 percent. base was supported by successful marketing * EBITDA for 2016 was KWD 240.2 million, strategies, network upgrades and deployments. compared to EBITDA of KD 250.2 million for With the launch of 4G and continued expansion the same period in 2015. of the 3G network, Ooredoo Algeria covered a vast majority of the population by the end of the year. Due to continued currency deprecia- tion and challenges associated with the slow- down of tourism, Ooredoo Tunisia saw a slight decrease in Revenue. Despite these challenges, we maintained our market leadership and grew our customer base by 6 percent to 8 million at the end of 2016. In local currency terms Revenue actually increased by 4 percent year on year. Ooredoo Maldives increased Revenues by 33 percent to reach KWD 32 million and showed significant growth in profitability, EBITDA increased 56 per- cent to KWD 17 million in 2016. Ooredoo Maldives is well positioned to continue deliver- ing growth as it is preparing for the public listing in 2017 on the local stock exchange. Wataniya Palestine also strengthened its market position, growing customer numbers by 10 percent num- ber serving now more than three quarters of a Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al-Thani million customers. Wataniya Palestine main- * The net profit attributable to NMTC in tained profitability and delivered Revenues of 2016 stood at KD 46.7 million compared with KWD 25 million for the year ended 2016.” a Net Attributable Profit of KD 26.7 million for The Chairman of the Board of Directors the same period in 2015. Good performances declared that the Board decided to submit a in the Maldives supported the increase. recommendation to the AGM to distribute Additionally net profit in 2015 contained a cash dividends to the Company Shareholders non-cash KD 16.7 million impairment loss on valued 85 percent of the nominal value of investment in Tunisia due to the economic share, which is equivalent to 85 fils.” challenges in the market. * The consolidated earnings per share was Review of Operations 93 fils compared to 53 fils per share earned for The Group’s operational performance can the same period last year. be summarized as follows: * Ooredoo Kuwait (NMTC) acquisition of “FASTtelco”, a Kuwait based ISP, to offer Ooredoo - Kuwait advanced fixed broadband and mobile servic- Ooredoo’s customer base in Kuwait stood es finalized in October 2016. at 2.3 million at the end of 2016 a 3 percent * Ooredoo Maldives is preparing for an IPO increase over the previous year. Revenues for on the local stock exchange in 2017. 2016 were KD 197.8 million, an increase of 5 Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al-Thani, Chairman percent compared to KD 188.1 million in 2015. was KD 57.0 million compared to KD 61.6 mil- decrease of 11 percent on KD 121.8 million for base stood at 0.4 million, an increase of 14 per- of the Board of Directors commented: “During EBITDA was KD 51.0 million versus EBITDA for lion for the same period in 2015. the same period in 2015. cent from the same period in 2015. Revenues the year 2016, Ooredoo consolidated its leading 2015 of KD 51.3 million. for 2016 were KD 31.6 million, an increase of position across key markets, with customer base Ooredoo - Algeria Wataniya - Palestine 33 percent compared to KD 23.8 million for increasing 6 percent to reach more than 25 mil- Ooredoo - Tunisia Ooredoo’s customer base in Algeria at the The total customer base for Wataniya the same period in 2015. EBITDA for 2016 was lion. Ooredoo maintained a stable EBITDA of KD Ooredoo’s Tunisia customer base stood at end of 2016 was 13.8 million customers, an Mobile Palestine at the end of 2016 was 0.8 KD 17.1 million, an increase of 56 percent 240 million for the year ended 2016. In a highly 8.0 million at the end of 2016, an increase of 6 increase of 6 percent compared with the same million, an increase of 10 percent from the compared to an EBITDA of KD 11.0 million for competitive market, Ooredoo Kuwait cemented percent on the same period in 2015. The period in 2015. The Algerian dinar depreciated same period in 2015. Revenues for 2016 were the same period in 2015. .