Majority state-owned Omantel Group posted a net profit of RO 229.0 million for the 12 months ended December 31, 2020, which was down 24 per cent from the previous year’s net of RO 299.7 million.
Announcing its initial unaudited results for the year, the publicly listed telecom firm noted that total group revenue dipped three per cent to RO 2513.4 million in 2020, down from RO 2592.3 million in 2019. EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) fell six per cent to RO 1028.6 million in 2020, down from RO 1097.7 million a year earlier.
On the domestic front, Omantel posted a net profit of RO 77.3 million last year, down just 2 per cent from the previous year’s tally of RO 79 million. Total revenue earned from its Oman operations declined 4 per cent to RO 533.1 million, down from RO 554.3 million in 2019.
EBITA was up two per cent to RO 205.2 million, up from RO 201.2 million in 2019.
In a statement, Omantel said the company delivered an impressive performance on the domestic front notwithstanding the “serious business disruptions” witnessed since March 2020 resulting from the Covid19 pandemic.
“Net profit recorded RO 77.3 million, which is a marginal decline in comparison to the Year 2019 performance. Effective management of sales activities along with proactive cost optimisation measures taken by the management has positively contributed in minimising the overall impact by achieving a 12 per cent reduction in operating and administrative expensive YoY,” it stated in a filing to the Capital Marketing Authority (CMA) on Thursday.
It attributed its performance to revenue growth from Mobile Postpaid, Fixed Broadband, Data Services, ICT, Wholesale International Business and Device Revenues, although prepaid revenue declined due to challenging market conditions.
Kuwait based regional telecom services provider Zain Group, which is 21.9 per cent owned by Omantel, generated consolidated revenue of $5.3 billion for full-year 2020, while consolidated net income reached $605 million.
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