The UAE’s telecoms service provider e&, formerly known as Etisalat, reported Tuesday a consolidated profit of $2.7 billion (AED 10 billion) in 2022, up 7.4% over the previous year, driven by a rise in the number of subscribers.
However, e& posted a 1.7% year-on-year decline in its revenues to $14.3 billion (AED 52.4 billion) last year.
Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 3.7% to $7.1 billion (AED 26.2 billion),
leading to an EBITDA margin of 50%, highlighting the high profitability of the telecom services provider's operations. Earnings per share grew 7.4% year-on-year to $0.31 (AED 1.15) in 2022.
The company caters to several customer segments through its business pillars—etisalat by e&, e& international, e& life, e& enterprise, and e& capital.
Etisalat by e& recorded 13.8 million subscribers in the UAE in 2022, an increase of 8.8% compared to the year-ago period. The group’s aggregate subscribers reached 163 million, an increase of 2.5% compared to the previous year.
Consolidated net profit for the October-December period jumped 25% year-on-year to $735.1 million (AED 2.7 billion), e& said in a filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
The company attributed higher quarterly profits to a rise in income from associates and lower depreciation and amortization expenses.
Revenue for the fourth quarter of last year reached $3.6 billion (AED 13.1 billion), a yearly decline of 4%.
Fourth-quarter sales continued to witness “significant exchange rate volatility in the Egyptian pound, Pakistani rupee, and Moroccan dirham due to global macroeconomic turbulence,” the company's statement noted.
