By: Thabet Shehata

Riyadh – Mubasher: Net profits of the three firms listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange's (Tadawul) telecommunication services sector surged 29% in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to the year-ago period.

Companies’ net profits hit SAR 2.42 billion in Q4-17, compared to SAR 1.88 billion in the same period a year earlier, Mubasher's statistics showed, citing the three firms’ financial statements.

Net profits of the three telecommunication services providers levelled up 23% to SAR 9.48 billion during the full-year 2017, compared to SAR 7.7 billion in the year before.

The Tadawul-listed telecom firms are the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Mobile Telecommunication Company Saudi Arabia (Zain), and Etihad Atheeb Telecommunication (Go).

The fiscal years of STC, Mobile, and Zain end in December of each year, while Go’s fiscal year ended in March.

STC posts a 27.2% increase in net profits, registering SAR 2.65 billion during Q4-17, compared to SAR 2.08 billion in the same period in the year before.

At the level of annual results, STC’s net profits went up 14.3% to SAR 10.17 billion last year, up from SAR 8.9 billion during the previous year.

Mobily’s net losses increased 158.83% to SAR 181.7 million in Q4-17, compared to SAR 70.2 million in Q4-16, while its annual losses rose 231.88% to SAR 708.9 million during 2017, from SAR 213.6 million in 2016.

Zain’s trimmed its losses by 67% to SAR 45 million during Q4-17, from SAR 135 million in the prior-year period.

Zain turned to profit after generating SAR 12 million in net profits in 2017, against suffering losses worth SAR 979 million during 2016.

Translated by: Mohamed Hesham Azab