Mubasher: Ooredoo, a dual-listed company on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), posted a 13.49% year-on-year drop in its profits for the first quarter of 2019.

Net profits recorded QAR 420.47 million ($116.82 million) in Q1-19, compared to QAR 486.05 ($135.04 million) in Q1-18, according to the company’s recent statement to the QSE.

Earnings per share (EPS) stood at QAR 1.31 by the end of March, against QAR 1.52 in the prior-year period.

“Group EBITDA margin increased by 4 percentage points year-on-year mainly due to rigid cost management, reduced cost of sales from equipment sales and a positive impact from the new IFRS 16 accounting standards, changing the classification of operating leases,” the statement highlighted.

 Revenues went down 6% year-on-year to QAR 7.2 billion in the January-March period of this year, driven by a reduction in handset sales, an industry-wide shift from voice services to data services, as well as macroeconomic and currency weakness in some of our markets.