Riyadh – Mubasher: Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily) on Monday reported a sharp decrease in losses for both the second quarter and first half of 2018.

The Saudi mobile operator registered SAR 78.6 million ($20.95 million) in losses between April and June, down 58.54% from SAR 189.6 million ($50.55 million) in the corresponding period of 2017.

Quarter-on-quarter, losses fell 15.85% from SAR 93.4 million.

Mobily attributed its decline in losses to higher gross profit on the back of revenue growth and lower cost of sales.

Gross profit amounted to SAR 1.775 billion in Q2-18, up 8.7% from SAR 1.633 billion in the same period last year, Mobily said in a filing to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

The telecom operator logged SAR 127 million in operating profit in the first three months of the year versus SAR 5.4 million in operating loss in Q2-17.

Mobily achieved a 1.4% rise in revenues to SAR 2.895 billion between April and June compared to SAR 2.854 billion in the same period in 2017.

"This is mainly due to the stabilisation of subscribers base, the improvement of subscribers mix, the increase of data and the growth of FTTH and business units revenues. This was achieved despite the market, regulatory and economic challenges including the reduction of mobile termination rates," Mobily stated.

It added that excluding the impact of lower mobile termination rates, revenues would have grown by 3.4%.

As for the six-month period ended 30 June, Mobily narrowed its losses by 51.23% to SAR 172 million from SAR 352.7 million in the same period of 2017.

Gross profit increased 4.24% year-on-year to SAR 3.438 billion in H1-18 from SAR 3.298 billion, according to Mobily's statement, whereas operating profit surged 664.09% to SAR 227.7 million from SAR 29.8 million in H1-17.

Losses per share (LPS) amounted to SAR 0.22 in H1-18 versus SAR 0.45 in the first six months of 2017.

In Q1-18, Mobily succeeded in trimming its losses by 43% to SAR 93 million from SAR 163 million in Q1-17, on the back of a revenue improvement driven by a better mix of products.

Mobily's stock closed Monday's trades in the green, rising 4.22% to SAR 20.76.